Overdubber

Klinsmann is currently managing the US team, and took Germany to the finals of the WC in 2006. Installed a new mentality in the German National team, which has been continued by Loew. I would happily have him step up to a managerial role at Villa.... I also would not like to see another ex SAF player here as manager. They always loose against their mentor. We should be competing against the likes, not buckling. That 4-0 was horrendous!

Between Kohler and Soussa, you are bound to say you are the crap defnder or midfielder. A bit like Craig Johnson when Liverpool had their heyday. Always said he couldn`t play as good as the others...

What with the timing of the announcement, i can`t help but get the feeling that Randy has already got something lined up. Cards on chest and all that, not like the last mess up.

True, Bruce likes to have a budget. Rafa is even worse on that front.

Alright bloke he may be, but he certainly is not an alright manager.

Its always somebody who knows what bus passes Villa Park. Bugger me Venger came from Japan, who we had never heard of.... shows the vision of David Dein. They have to be sitting under our noses before we recruit. worrying. Sorry, but Wenger was already champion with Red Diamonds successively, and well known in France before that as a poedantic Elsass Trainer. Had already class and style in his stride, and it is no coincidence that he nurtured possibly the best Arsenal side ever. Certainly knew his stuff before arriving in the UK. There were even interested teams in Germany at the time, including Stuttgart. Sorry once again, but he was by no means an unknown.

Martinez seems to turn good towards the end of each season, but people seem to forget some of the rubbish displayed during the rest of the time. Has to sell his best each year also, which certainly doesn`t help the cause.

The whole team has been bad for two years, so we should sell the lot?

Praise the Lord for that!

Rangnick is called the prof. here in Germany. After training the VFB reserves, trained regional liga Team Ofterdingen(way above their weight), then took Ulm to the top division, was promptly taken by Stuttgart, who got CL (and beat Man U in their group), was then poached away to Schalke, where he twice got close to the title. Pressure of fans expectation was too much for him (even more fickle than Villa fans), then resigned. Haven`t heard from him since, but certainly a manager with a plan, and has had undoubted success wherever he has been. Don`t know if he would cut with the pressure in the Prem though, although his english is quite funny to listen to.

Sadly one of those players who sometimes doesn`t seem to turn up. Bit frustrating really, as we all know he has masses of potential. definately agree about partnering him up with the right man though. with Robhinio he was sometimes quite fantastic.

Southgate sounds good, but would need some reassurance, as he left our club due to our lack of ambition, seeing us sell off the best players to our rivals. Certainly a great defender. Funny enough the same happened when he was manager of Boro, all the players he got playing well were sold off, thus relegation. Unsustainable really. certainly a gentleman and a class act. On a side note, i got one of his shirts from the euro 96, as my aunt was a cleaner at the club at the time, and she asked him for me, saying that her nephew had come all the way from germany and all that. Though having a shirt from a missed penalty shooter is not really something to be proud of I suppose. still great player, and great team player. Don`t know if he is still in management though. Sounds like an unlikely call. Zola has been doing well in Italy, and certainly has a great understanding of the game. Unlikely after his rough time at WHUFC, but still a good man manager, and seems to have a plan.

At least Houllier tied to get us playing football, but many of our fans were already on his back. Long process, but we did look better towards the end of that season than at the beginning.

Whoever the new person may be, we will have to give him time, and that really is something we here at Villa are not very good at. I for one am thankful that we got rid of McMess as soon after the season as we did, as that was going nowhere but down. Bad appointment, bad season. Time to look forwards, start regaining the winning mentality.

Came to Dortmund on a free, and was sold to Celtic for 3 mil. after 80 odd appearances. was not bad business for Dortmund at the time. Certainly a pretty impressive player career, and a good manager too.

AVB would certainly fit the bill, but I cannot see him comming to us, as we are nowhere near good enough to fit his expectations. Looks like we either up ours, or he will have to lower his.

Don`t really think anyone is really putting Lamberts creds to question, just question whether he can actually take on big time players on board. Norwich are really overperforming to be certain, but could he step up from that? I wouldn?t doubt him staying there for a few years, until offers come from Man U or Chelsea (or the likes), and then fail miserably. Was certainly a great player at Dortmund, and is still well loved there. There seems to be a myth on here as to Dortmund playing on the counter at the time. Is simply not true. Dortmund dominated their games, even against Bayern and Schalke. That is why Bayern came in for Hitzfeld and half of their squad after a couple of years (they always do that with their nearest opponents).

Schimon was one of the stallwarts of the Makabi Tel Aviv side who won countless championships in Israel, and most capped (?) national team player. Is 41 years old right now, and has taken his team from nothing to champions within 4 - 5 years with a 13 point clearance at the top, mostly from local kids. You may all think it is nothing special in Israel, but he has broken the dominance of the top 4 there as could not be even imagined. Guy is certainly a winner, and gets the very best out of players, even in a tiny town (23000). really is an astonishing achievement. As mentioned, prem may be a bit early for him right now, but the man is certainly destined to be one of the great managers of the comming generation, much better than any or all of the scottish managers put together (IMO). Nothing against scottish people there, but this guy is really of a different class.

Certainly are a lot of scottish managers in the prem right now. Nothing against scots, but the most successful managers right now seem to be Italian.....

Ran Ben Schimon would be worth looking at, as what he has achieved at Ironi Kiryat Shmona is quite remarkable. Maybe too much for him straight in at the deep end of the prem right now, but do not be suprised to see his team in the CL next season (Israelis must play 2 qualifiers), which is more than can be said for us (sadly).

Should really be paying back the money he got....

That link with Bradley looks interesting. Good manager, and puts up some pretty good looking teams from players you would not think it possible from. Some may call it a risk, but the way he got the US playing in the last two world cups really says alot for me. Plus he is an american, which may give him some bonus with Randy. Looking forward towards better times, and good to see Randy reacting so promptly after the end of the (dire) season.

Whatever, Herd is a good player who should not have his future destroyed by a manager deploying him in a team with no will to win, like so many of our youngsters.

Lambert is yet another scotsman, nothing against scottish people, but so many of the scottish managers are just dross at the end of the day, even if they were exeptional players in their time. Would go for someone with a wider horizon, maybe european. Rangnick? Was truly great at Ulm, and did well in Schalke until the expectations of the club overtook the reality. Someone Italian (they seem to be very successful in management right now- when not getting involved in betting scandals)? Spanish tippy tappy style, plus falling over alot for free kicks? Any of the so called smaller leagues would need to be poaching off a more acclaimed manager, as their standards are well below those presented in the PL. One valuble thing that a continental manager would bring is the possibility of new scouting structures to bring in some real bargains from abroad, which could certainly be a step up from the over priced british players who are average at best ( see NRC, Knight, Collins, Hutton etc....) Whichever way it goes, certainly some risk involved along the way, and I sincerely hope that Lerner has some kind of plan in placement (have my doubts there though), and the best of luck to them.

Do we actually have any targets as manager? What kind of football we intend to produce, aims, goals? If not it could be out of the frying pan.... Is there anyone decent who could actually work with our squad (very young and lightweight in places)? Difficult one to answer, and obviously the form of robust defending we were supposed to have played was really not working with our current manager. There are not too many managers about who could get our squad back to winning ways on a shoestring budget. A higher profile manager may need funding to get players in to fit the calibre of players he needs to get his system together. Personally I do not believe that PL experience is needed here, as those who may be available are really not much of a step up from where we are now. I do hope that Randy has some kind of a plan on the go, maybe with a target man already sighted.