Danwichmann

That guy who's been living in the Holte End must have eaten it.

Fixed. There are simply no decent English candidates, get over it. We are not the master race of football, or anything else, and for a good manager we need to cast our net a lot wider.

Coyle also missing.

David Moyes 1 Yes Please Rafael Benitez 5/2 No thanks! Sam Allardyce 5 No Thanks! Mark Hughes 7 Mehhhh Kevin Macdonald 8 No Martin Jol 8 Mehhh Steve McClaren 8 No Jurgen Klinsmann 12 Interesting.... Sven Goran Eriksson 12 Could do worse Ray Wilkins 16 No, not as manager Gianfranco Zola 16 Could do ok Didier Deschamps 20 Please please let this happen! Guus Hiddink 20 Yes Fabio Capello 25 Yes Frank Rijkaard 25 Mehhh Louis Van Gaal 25 Mehhh Slaven Bilic 25 Interesting Jose Mourinho 33 Lol Martin ONeill 33 Lol Diego Maradona 33 God no Gordan Cowans 50 No, but thanks Ray Graydon 50 No, but thanks Alan McInally 250 No, but thanks

Ditto Benitez.

This is where i'm at, he's an oddball thats for sure but he also came in to the club at an odd time. Let him have a pre season see how he goes, that said if we did sell him early on cant say i'd be bothered. It depends how much we can recoup by selling him. If we can't get rid then better to try and get him playing than rotting in the reserves, but if we can get a few million and a big earner of the wage bill, then far better to cut our losses. From my point of view, places and gametime in the middle of the park are already subject to a massive amount of competition. Just because Ireland theoretically cost us a lot of money, I dont believe this means that we should be giving him any more chances than any of our younger players who cost the club little/nothing. The cost of Ireland is a sunk cost, and should be irrelevant in team selections. The way I see it is that in Ireland we have a player who doesnt give a damn about the club whilst we have a number of Youth players who would bust a gut to get gametime for the club. Similarly we have Makoun, who hasnt lit the world alight as yet, but by all accounts is trying his utmost to intergrate into the team/squad. If Ireland comes back and trains hard, then fine, but for me he has to work his way back into the team, starting from the bottom of the pile. Oh yeah, that should all be a given. If he is to ever get back into the team, he has to be picked on merit because he is performing better in training than others looking for the same position, not because he is more experienced / bigger name / more expensive etc.

We'd have to pay the remainder of his contract up front if we did that, so is of no benefit to us financially.

This is where i'm at, he's an oddball thats for sure but he also came in to the club at an odd time. Let him have a pre season see how he goes, that said if we did sell him early on cant say i'd be bothered. It depends how much we can recoup by selling him. If we can't get rid then better to try and get him playing than rotting in the reserves, but if we can get a few million and a big earner of the wage bill, then far better to cut our losses.

Yeah, it's one talented family! There's a third brother playing somewhere as well apparently.

The Ayew brothers at Marseille are looking very promising. 21 year old Andre got a hat-trick against Nice last night taking him to 10 league goals for the season, and his younger brother Jordan (19) got the other goal. Anyone who saw the OM Man Utd CL game might remember Andre putting in a good performance then as well. Definitely a couple of players who's progress I'll be keeping an eye on.

^^ Maybe the 999 is a but much, but probably worth speaking to a doctor mate! I went out for a short jog last night and after about a mile kept getting little pains in my foot, can only describe them as being like little electric shocks. No idea what is was but decided I couldn't continue which was was frustrating. Anyone experienced anything similar?

:? Allardyce is English and can speak English. Capello fails in both respects. Have you read Mein Kampf? I'm guessing he found it a lot of leftie nonsense that didn't go far enough.

:? Allardyce is English and can speak English. Capello fails in both respects. Not being English is only a fail in your criteria.

Surely this should be in the hall of fame? Mods?

I agree he didn't really play well when he did play but still that was no reason to banish him from the first-team and then send him out on loan out of the club asap. I think he would have been a good player to have on the bench to bring on for the last 20 mins or use in a rotation policy etc. He can't be anyworse than Sidwell can he? But we got rid of Sidwell because he wasn't good enough, same as we've got rid of Ireland because he isn't good enough. I think he was good enough for the bench. Rather have Ireland on the bench than Bannan (harsh I know) and Hogg who were getting in ahead of him. Even Clark was playing centre mid. Bannan has played far better than Ireland this season, and Clark and Hogg aren't really relevant as Ireland couldn't play in a defensive role even if by some miracle he had a good day. What's more, the management clearly felt the youngsters had more to offer than Ireland as well, hence why they shipped him out as quickly as they could. You bang on about Houllier disrespecting the club but I'd say Ireland's lack of effort and dedication are a far bigger insult to Aston Villa.

But what if it's that or the club going under?

I agree he didn't really play well when he did play but still that was no reason to banish him from the first-team and then send him out on loan out of the club asap. I think he would have been a good player to have on the bench to bring on for the last 20 mins or use in a rotation policy etc. He can't be anyworse than Sidwell can he? But we got rid of Sidwell because he wasn't good enough, same as we've got rid of Ireland because he isn't good enough.

So that we could go on and get relegated after sacking a manager? I really don't get your point? Well, apart from the obvious point of "I hate Houllier and all foreigners." Never mind.

No thanks. Even if it was Mourinho? you seem dead against foreign managers.. why is that? I want to see British managers given a chance. Do you know how much it annoys me when I realise that the England manager is not English :evil:

good to see that Labour are campaigning on behalf of the public and not trying to use it for any political gain then Right for the wrong reasons. The whole campaign has really been nothing short of embarrassing on both sides.

uncy_chris - Yes, you're probably right and he's certainly a long shot of a target. You never know though, he might fancy the PL at the end of the season. At the end of the day if you don't ask you don't get. I certainly won't be up in arms if we don't get him as I wouldn't expect him to come here. Also, heard a bit about OM possibly having to sell at least one star player in the summer so he might decide that he can't take them any further and look for a way into the PL, and there might not be a better job available. (Although thinking about it now, I wonder if he could end up at Chelski next season?)

This is a good point and one of the reasons I'd really like to see us try for Deschamps. We need someone that can actually take us on to the next level, not just to where we were under MON. Deschamps took a Marseille team that other managers couldn't take past "serious challenger" and turned them into champions, and he looks like doing it again this year so it's not a one off.

Always liked DD is a player and has impressed as a manager, IMO he would leave OM to manage in the Premier League but to us I am not so sure. However if he fancies a challenge?? Yeah, for a 'big' PL job I've no doubt he'd leave, but I don't think we're seen as a 'big' job right now. That said, at the end of the season he could well have won two consecutive titles and may just feel there isn't much left to achieve there? Then again, it would appear he turned down Liverpool last summer and if that's the case then I don't really fancy Villa's chances.

First choice: Didier Dechamps - CL final with Monaco, promoted with Juve (granted, the minimum expected) and 3 trophies in 1.5 seasons at Marseille, after 17 (I think) trophyless seasons, plus won everything going as a player so would command respect in that sense, knows the PL, speaks good English and is fairly young for a manager. Would he swap France's biggest club and CL football for the PL though? Second choice: Villas Boas - I don't actually know a great deal about this guy, but what I've heard sound extremely good. Might be a bit of a gamble to appoint someone with so little experience but sometimes you have to take a risk. Not sure if he'd come to Villa. Third choice: David Moyes - Taken Everton as far as they can be taken. May have better offers should he leave. Fourth choice: Owen Coyle - done wonders with Burnley and Bolton. Don't know if he'd leave Bolton for us though. Don't want - Fat Sam and his over inflated ego, Mark Hughes who hasn't really done anything of note for me or Benitez who is just a complete tool.

It was you. A Young was standing right in front of Delap, didn't do any good.