itdoesntmatterwhatthissay

Ozvillafan nailed it for me. Doesn't need to be a footballer but he needs to understand the inner workings of the game and why clubs are a success or failure, long or short term. I'm reserving judgement, it's not fair to assume he knows nothing about the game and will bring very little. What we can say is that he's a secretive Tory donor, was in charge of a major Birmingham educational facility despite not being an educator, is on various investment boards, worked/s for KPMG as well as influencing Birmingham LEP.....so he's a money man who knows how to get deals.....looks like he won't be speaking to me then, and boy will I try! Also it sounds just like what we already have, but with more city wide influence...we shall see. Oh and Stevo, this might help, I thought I'd go on a hunt for you. Bottom lines mention city. http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/finance/business-profile-steve-hollis-regional-3912497 Here's 'some' of the quote.

Ha, don't worry I know. Crouchinho is a legend, a brilliant example of where an intelligent player quite often beats a 'classic athlete' type.

Yes, you're absolutely right (memory slip). I've even said in the past I liked Houllier because he changed our style to a more modern game

Okay bad is perhaps not the right word but I don't like his positioning/footwork and I think it's suffered over the past few years. The Everton game is a good example for me, okay Lukaku's goal was a superb header but every time the ball is wide of Guzan he looks suspect, even when the ball is only a few yards away. I don't think he's comfortable adjusting his feet and body when the ball goes/comes from the side; shot or cross. I feel he used to be better.

Just watch him make a decision and compare it to Gestede. When Kozak jumps for a ball you can see he's worked out how he's going to do it. Arch over the defender, straight up, push back jump forward, get too tight to the defender so nobody can win it properly etc. Similarly when on the floor his footwork is adequate because he gives himself the space before the ball comes to him. He thinks a dribble, control or pass before. Whatever quality he may have after than is unknown, we do know he can shoot and finish but at this level? Even he doesn't know! He made the difference against Palace because he made sure he was always in the game and aware of the next move. That to me is not only something that Crouch offers but something every quality Prem striker must have, especially if they're slower than Barry.

Apart from the 100% commitment from the players I don't think we played that differently with the ball under Garde than we did last night. Oh and Kozak. We needed Garde when MON was sacked, the battle now is too great. A real shame but I hope he sticks around and keeps transforming how this club plays football.

Jesus was he tight to the attacker, you'd have thought he was a RB! Superb today and not only did he defend well but he played a full back position well too.

Fair play to him he was good yesterday. Perhaps the addition of a striker who can keep us the ball allowed him to come forward with a bit more confidence. Still needs replacing in my mind, he has a long way to go, but fair play to him. When the chips were down he came out fighting.

I just hope he sticks around for at least another year, the guy is fantastic is every single department and exactly what that squad needed. I always worried that Gabby was sat in the background saying well, we're bad because X,Y and Z training or this is no good, there's no chance of that now, Ayew has cemented himself as Mr Villa (at the moment), he really, really doesn't want us to go down.

Superb yesterday, considering the position we're in and the fitness he doesn't have. His intelligence on and off the ball was so clear, he might be a poor trainer but he's a good matchday player. Then again anyone who can think about his next move is better than Gestede. What typified the difference for me was right at the end when Kozak won the corner, he was shattered but he still thought quickly. Smart fella and you need to be cute when you play up top by yourself. He was cute all game and his jumped with a plan, not just because he was tall. Thank god he played well and we won, made it look like we know what we're talking about.

Oh, I assumed that his wikipedia page was wrong because I always thought he was 6"1.....I stand corrected..huh huh I want him even less now, 6"4 and so bad at crosses....erm, welcome Bunn....but please let us replace Bunn...

Believe it was called the NextGen tournament or series. We were the last ones to win it before they went for an all CL team tournament instead. The youth team got to play all over Europe against some tough and different opposition. A really great life and footballing experience. Taken away because FIFA supports a monopoly, the FA is pathetic and our club, the club who showed that it's not just about buying in your kids won it and said practically nothing.

He gets forward but stops randomly without properly supporting the play. Dribbles like a full back, tackles like a midfielder. Doesn't know where he is in defence and while he gets back as a body, fair play to him for that, he's often not sure where to look. He is absolutely useless and might look out of place in the Championship. No way he should be playing ahead of a kid needing experience, I fail to believe we have nobody who could do his job.

Not really fair on Garde is it, he has been linked with a few keepers and he's steering a sinking ship. Plus we're not blessed with backup keepers....Bunn...no thanks. His form hasn't been garbage, he just hasn't been the same. His crossing positioning is suspect and his distribution has been appalling for those 3 years. I would absolutely replace him and I think you could do it quite easily. But he's not the problem to our form, he's just gone stale and isn't going to move us forward. He's also too short...sorry Brad... Then again if you argued that his inability to properly organise a defence and control players at set pieces means he absolutely cannot play I might have considered your argument

The club is rotten everywhere and the pitch should be the least of our worries. I'll give two easy examples of why the club is being run like muppets, especially considering we blow 65k a week on Nzogs wages. 1. Does anybody remember the noise made when the CL tournament changed and we suddenly lost a really brilliant way for lower teams to develop young players? Nope, neither do I. Why on earth was the club so silent? Did we have no response or action plan?! 2. I was part of the team which tried to save the Aston Arena. I called the club numerous times, I visited the club numerous times, I emailed numerous times and I wrote a few letters to various people at the club. All I wanted was a conversation. I never got that so I mentioned needing their support when I got the campaign on the radio, the TV, in papers and with politicians. Guess what, nothing. I was a few hundred metres away, I was extremely accessible. That is not the Villa we used to have, the Villa which let disabled/blind children rip up its pitch for a end of year tournament. That doesn't happen any more. Where do we go from here?....we get somebody in who can look at the club as a whole, evaluate what as a whole club we're good/bad at and then actually have 10 and 20 year plans. When they're ready to accept they need help I'm available for the job

Hmmm, seems like a Hutton witch hunt to me. Another one of those statistics which tell us more about what people see and what other players don't do that tell us who is the real problem player.

I haven't a problem with him specifically but I would replace him because he's still not great at crosses, his distribution is horrible and area command still non-existent. It's a shame the number 2 is Bunn, perhaps Guzan needs proper pushing because he's been underpar for a couple of years.

Fair enough if you thought we'd have gone down but compared to how we played and finished from 92 onwards Lerner has been a nightmare when making his own decisions. I also don't think Lerner has to make the right football decisions, but he has to employ someone below him who sees how a club should look in 10 years, sustainability wise. Even if he only had a 5 year plan, he still makes the final call. That ties with the manager you choose. I don't think Lerner gets that and I think that's the most important factor for any club. Fair play he backed Lambert but he never appeared to change the negative aspects of Lambos reign. I think Ellis would've. Also I wasn't around for the European cup squad but from what I read the good about Ellis and the misfortune is usually left out of the tale. I can't remember what I wrote (long few days) but I'll assume I did say 'well', in that case I'll change that to well run club in comparison. I remember how much I hated having Ellis but it was despair because we wouldn't step up and not because we were failing everywhere. Then there is the fact that Lerner has failed outside the club too, Ellis was always passionate about being a community club. And I'm not buying the Acorns link, it was commercially savvy on a few fronts....until it suddenly wasn't! Also I don't think you need bucket loads of cash to be midtable and compete in cups but you need a plan more than luck.

The thing is, he wasn't expensive. He was a few years ago but £10million is the new £6million, anything below that is gamble money. Considering how expensive good Championship players are he is worth keeping around.

The fact you mention Barry is a key factor for me, midfield and intelligent players. The last five years has been a messy time in my mind. Look back or think about past Villa, we had much more purpose in midfield and in the wide attacking areas. We had players who understood the game and more importantly tactical roles. The same could be said for our managers. When we lost Petrov I thought thank god, we're finally going to replace an ageing pro with a class act, how wrong I was. His slow passing drove me mad, the fact he'd win free kicks all the time by drawing in the opposition really frustrated me. I also never got why his style was so negative but he knew something we didn't, he had to play that way to keep us in the game. If you're not defensively brilliant be the smarter player, Petrov, Barry, Milner and Delph all were. It's no surprise that Delph leaving hit us so hard but the failure of managers and the board, especially the board, to not identify a quality CDM is indicative of the clubs naivety. We'd been treading water with one quality midfielder and no balance, that luck was going to run out and boy has it. The same can be said for many others positions and the loss of many younger talents. I know I'm a broken record but Hutton is one of our most effective players because he's a pro, he understands how to change the game despite lacking the modern day skills to do so consistently. He'll play one twos and make a run forward, draw a defender out of position, stop when going offside and link play instead and he'll look forward and think, jesus, I better run inside because nobody is supporting. Remember he's a full back not the attacking threat. More importantly he gets back because it's his job and the team need him. Putting technical quality aside how many other starters have that sort of professional pride or confidence? Richards? Ayew? Gueye? Veretout? All new players, three new to the Premier League. Then there's the club, I understand football is a business but Lerner planned for long term success with short term ambitions. What's he going to do with us now? We've spent the last 5 years cutting back, now we're going down....does he cut more to eeek out as much profit as possible? Or does he chance it next year making no real changes to the club? Where did it go wrong indeed.

Certainly wasn't, we had some dodgy seasons but never a catastrophic run. It was frustration not pain. MON wouldn't work with him but Doug knew MON was the right fit. He's the last good appointment we made. Doug was a penny pinching sod but he ran the football side of the club well, he just let his personality rule too many long term decisions. My comment was one of desperation but if there's nothing to learn from the Ellis/Lerner transition we really should just cut out losses in the lower leagues.

Maybe, but remember Lerner's Villa has never been run by the manager but by the Chairman. MON left because of it, McLeish cut back (and was awful), Houllier brought forward younger players due to no budget, Lambert always moaned about it and Sherwood had players bought for him using sold players funds. Garde might have to play certain players because of contracts, such as Gestede. He knows he's there next year, whereas Kozak probably isn't. He can drop players like Gabby because selling them would be fine for the club, no pressure. Garde is probably losing as many fans as he's winning but I wouldn't be surprised if once again it's our board hampering the manager. Lerner out is no joke, he hasn't bothered to employ proper football people up top and it's showing over and over again. Ellis was a nightmare, but he cared about football and about the club. He knew how football should be run and we were run well because of it. The grass was definitely not greener.

Great interview after the game, needs to look at himself though. He still started with Sinclair, Richardson and stuck by Gestede. He needs a window to try and replace some dross, I'd take any crappy Ligue 2 midfielder who can pass and dribble rather than the inefficient crap we keep seeing.

We don't have time enough to let him bed but he's really not that good in the air. He's good at winning the ball but not at directing it anywhere useful, not in the Prem anyway. Being smart with your positioning and timing is much better than being tall and strong with a good jump. It also doesn't help that he plays up top by himself when he really does need a player next to him, and not Sinclair but someone who can guess where he might flick it on.~ Then he looks even worse because even though we play him up top alone we don't cross! Also useless with his back to goal. We won't get the best from this average player/good weapon and he's not good enough to change his own fortunes. Ludicrous he gets so many minutes.

I always thought he would come good but jesus christ is he one of the most average players we've ever had in midfield. Short passing great, long passing average, killer balls non existent, escape passes poor, shooting very poor, switching play slow, corners average sometimes good, tackling poor, positioning poor, protecting awareness poor, pace poor, strength none, dribbling average because I'm being nice. Just not good enough, bring back fat Stan or Barry. Our midfield recruitment has been absolutely shocking.