Woody1000

As much as I wanted Dean to be the guy to take us ‘back to where we want to be’, perhaps he was only going to be the guy to put the foundations in place for the next guy to take us there. Whether Gerrard is that guy remains to be seen, but he will get my full support and I hope he gets it from everyone. I do wish we would stop being so divided as a fan base all the time.

Never change VillaTalk, never change

Reading through the Rangers forum (Bear Pit) I see that they are all full of respect for us….. I understand that Rangers are a huge club with massive support, but to read them talk about us like we’re Walsall is insulting. Is it Aston Villa’s fault that the Scottish league lacks real competition thus Gerrard needing to prove himself in a competitive league?

I don’t think Gerrard would leave Rangers if Beale didn’t want to come too.

4-3-3/4-2-3-1 from what I’ve seen.

I’m not saying that they did, it just makes you think with talk of funds being available in January. Perhaps at the start of the season we thought we had enough, but they’ve changed their mind. I’m obviously just speculating here.

I’m not saying it is the case, but you do wonder.

Working on the assumption that Dean’s sacking was not a knee jerk reaction to the 5 game losing streak, and more to do with 2021 as a whole, do you think NSWE held back a bit with transfer funds in the summer with possible funds needed for a new manager for the January window?

Hasn’t won a game yet, the useless ****!

I guess while it’s not a strong league, he’s managed a big club with big support/expectations etc. I did always wonder how it effects players playing for a manager/head coach who wasn’t a top player also, especially if you haven’t won trophies in the game? Does it have any effect on the respect the player has for them with certain football matters? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not team Gerrard but I’m coming around to the idea especially if that is who CP wants. I trust the hierarchy as I know you do too.

See I actually thought the opposite, would we be more up for it if it wasn’t an ex Liverpool player who had done the same job at Rangers?

He was asked about it at the end of a post-match interview, he shot it down pretty quickly but that is pretty much it.

Look I’ll stop posting about him, but you’re just asking for too much right now…

This is pretty much where I’m at right now Peter, Christophe Galtier would be my first choice in an ideal world but I’m open to getting on board with Gerrard. To be honest whoever we hire gets my full support, just as Dean did.

I can’t lie, I’m warming to the idea of Gerrard providing it’s the whole package coming with him.

I don’t think I’m ready to get into a new relationship just yet.

I’ve tried to write a post about 5 times over the last couple of hours, but just can’t really say what I really want to say. I can’t speak for any of you reading this, or any other Villa fans, but Dean has played a big part in bringing my pride in the club back, and I’ll always be grateful to him for that. I’m gutted that he won’t get the chance to turn things around, while it looked extremely unlikely Dean has proved myself and others wrong in the past and may have done so again given the chance, but the numbers don’t lie unfortunately and the results over the last 10 months or so were always going to put him under pressure with ambitious owners like we have with NSWE. Dean, you are a fantastic guy and I genuinely hope you have success in your next appointment, and believe me whoever your next club is are lucky to have you. This might be the ‘right’ decision, but it feels so sad in this moment. I’ve never felt anything close to this with any Villa manager leaving before. All the best Deano!!

I can’t believe it either, that picture that I posted looks like he would’ve had a very nasty sprain.

At the time on Sunday, I actually felt that Dean made the right call to bring on Young to replace Ramsey on Sunday, more to protect Carne’s from a potential schooling at the hands of Soucek and Rice, but I actually think we missed a trick there. I can understand him starting to get frustrated if the word coming out is true. With the up and down performance of our midfield this season, I am a little surprised he hasn’t seen a bit more action.

This is the biggest problem I find these days, if he’d said something sensible that you feel there is something to debate about then it’s fine, but it’s just so over the top every time these days. Like you say it’s a ridiculous statement.

I’m surprised that there hasn’t been anything from him on any of his social media re his ‘challenge’ on Lanzini, probably for risk of the usual comments with how the team are performing but I hope at the very least he apologised to him after the match. It was a disgusting challenge that he’s very lucky not to be punished further. Put it this way, in rugby union he would be cited for that and could be looking at anything from a 2 week to a 6 week ban depending on how the disciplinary panel viewed it. I’m actually shocked that VAR let that one stand.

We’ve been hoping for this since the Wolves game unfortunately. There has to be or I think Dean is doomed.

I know what you’re saying. Hey I’m a Dean Smith guy so please don’t think I’m sticking the knife in, but the record over the calendar year is not impressive reading. I don’t want him sacked, but it’s getting tougher by the week to defend him if I’m being honest.