Nemes1s

I just went in the lift at work and saw somebody I'd never spoke to before holding a Villa mug. I said, 'Have you heard about Lambert? He's quit Norwich.'

He replied, 'Yeah? I don't know why. He scored loads for them and they're probably going down now. We don't need him.'

I don't know what he thought I said. Probably won't talk to him again.

EDIT: Oh god, what if he's a VTer? Erm, he wasn't holding a mug, he was wearing a villa hat.

Ha Ha!! Quality awkward moment!!

We dodged a nuclear missile in Steve McClaren!!

Gazton - If you were Big Eck how would you set up to get the best out of SI?

Luckily I'm neither ginger nor Scottish

However, to get the best out of SI (and, as a result, the team), I'd go like this

Bent

Downing - Petrov - Ireland - Makoun - Albrighton

Clark - Dunne - Cuellar - Young

Given

Considering what we have available today, that's doesn't look too bad actually and should give Ireland the freedom he needs to drift around a bit and attack at will.

We obviously have to lower our expectations but I still can't understand why we couldn't go for an up and coming name like Poyet or Greyson rather than plumping for someone we know will be mediocre and divisive.

You saw the reactions when Martinez and McClaren were bin the frame.

Gus Poyet or Grayson would probably blow the VT servers up, not to mention the lynch mob that would have gone down VP.

Basically, if it werent Ancelotti or Moyes...people were always going to moan

*cough* Hughes??

This started with talksport... "24 hours mccleish will be villa manager".. well its nearly 24 hours gone and no signs of it happening.. the Villa statement suggests they will speak him (and it has taken place apparently) and that's it.. I honestly don't see it happening.

Why would the statement mention his name if we weren't confident in getting him? If he wasn't a main target we would just say, "we are currently conducting interviews" not "we aim to interview Alex McLeish imminently".

The club has stuck its neck too far out on the line for it to not happen now.

Perhaps because the idea of the statement was to say pipe down everybody we'll do it our way. I think he'll be interviewed and it'll be agreed on both sides its not right.

I think, I hope, I feel sick.

It's possible and I hope it's the case but....

Why waste everyone's time and endure the huge backlash of the fans, the media and making yourself and the club look incompetent to the world by interviewing a guy u know you will just turn down anyway?

Also, could you imagine if McLeish REALLY wants the job, we give him a mickey mouse interview and then turn him down? He'll be straight on the press raving about it was all just lip service and how unprofessional Villa are.

Either way it's got to the point now where the board will come out of this looking really silly! However, if they don't appoint McLeish at least they'll have the majority of the Villa fans back on their side for "eventually listening to reason", even though it's late coming.

Some people need to get their priorities in order.

Moaning about some div scrawling graffiti that has already been cleaned off while ignoring someone pissing on the entire fanbase.

Don't get distracted, the graffiti was cleaned up in half an hour, the stain that AM would cause to the club will take years to clean up!

That doesn't make it right though, regardless of motive or intention behind it. As far as I'm concerned, anyone vandalising Villa property IS pissing on the entire fanbase!

What if a thousand disgruntled fans went down and started graffiting the whole of Villa Park? Is that ok then? Do you think that sends a good message to the players, potential managers and everyone else?

My two pence for what its worth..

From the evidence available to me I am quite confident that AM will not be the next Villa Manager.

This is from a mixture of what in my opinion are sources I would take over what I am told by the media Circus, the same media circus who in the last 2 weeks alone have at some point guaranteed 1 of at least 5 managers with the next 24 hours etc.. the fact is they don't know there arse from their elbow when it comes to this board and they build up on what little snippets they can get until it spills over and people start to take it as gospel, FFS you only have to look at the number of players at team get linked with in the papers and how many actually happen for an example of this.

Love your optimism my friend but can I have a bit of what your smoking?

And now this statement from the BCFC board just makes me think it's even more unlikely, it's just not the way that this board works what the **** have they done in the last 5 years to deserve such vitriol? do you think they have had a mental breakdown and suddenly have no clue what to do? The appointment of GH may not have panned out as planned, but you could see the logic to it and it met all of the criteria mentioned in the statement tonight.

That leads me on to statements the only things we have heard officially are in regards to Martinez and Interviewing AM, the first of these were driven by Whelan mouthing off to the press who in turn make up their own story which suddenly is stated as fact on talkshite, SSN, so we make a statement which rubbishes all the shite that the media had been pedaling by clarifying that it was decided days ago that we were not even meeting Martinez, if whelan hadn't mouthed of none of these facts would be in the public domain and people would still be of the mantra he turned us down.

Tonights statement in my opinion was made due to the constant moaning and whining of the want it now generation and is very carefully worded are we the **** going to employ AM, if you go back and read it again the whole statement is a contradiction to them employing AM as he meets none of the aforementioned criteria GH did , the only reason he is mentioned (right at the bottom I may add) is because the BCFC chairman has come out and mentioned us (similar to Whelan) other wise I think that paragraph would not have been on there and it would just have been a statement to appease, finally the reason they do go into detail is to show that the fact he has been at BCFC should not stop him from being able to apply and be interviewed and rightly so, thats all it doesn't say he has the job, that is the medias take.

There has never been anything official on Hughes, Ancelloti, Jol, Mclaren, Benitez, Moyes all anyone is going on is what the media have drummed up, maybe there are some grains of truth in what has been said about any of the above candidates the only way we would / will ever know is with official statements.

Personally I fully expect David Moyes to be the new Villa manager come 1st of July

I see where you're coming from and would agree except for the fact of.....if we aren't seriously considering him, why interview him?! They could have said "we will look at all candidates credentials regardless of previous club" instead they say they WILL interview him...

It's not my fault you're stupid. In the 09/10 season we had no sponsor, during the end of that season we get a ceo to drive to get revenue in the following summer. Randy says sell to buy, wage bill too high in relation to revenue. Why on earth did we spend two seasons without a sponsor if we needed money? Why only in the summer of 2010 did we get a ceo and go try get a huge income stream like a shirt sponsor?

What was happening up until then, years of no ceo, years of no sponsor. Randy let the club get like that and only write up to the reality I'm the 09/10 season.

There is no need for the abuse is there, calm yourself.

I dont understand why your ignoring my question about how things in the past make us a poorly run club now?

But i suppose there is a reason why you ignore questions and twist everything else.

Anyway this thread is not about Randy or how things are run its how Villa fans overreact to a little tommy squeaker never mind a manager appointment.

Since randy took over he has poorly managed the club until he realised this in the 09/10 season resulting in the breakdown of relations with O' Neill. He'd he erin the club properly and increased our income by tapping the stands all other clubs did we would probably still have o'neill. The current mess is the result of Randy's mistakes in his first years here.

That is what I've said repeatedly, you just fail to understand simple English. Randy mismanaged and now we are still in that mess as he tries to fix it.

Yes, he made mistakes as an owner, considering it's the first time in football, like anyone, a player or a coach ....you make mistakes. Same with the owners, you learn from those mistakes and that's what he's doing and now rectifying. Although the view O'Neill would still be here etc...is just sheer speculation.

We've finished 11th, 6th, 6th, 6th, 9th under Randy.....I'd say overall, he's done a fine job for this club, it's a shame you don't feel that you can give a board time to work things out, a board who have put a £100 million+ into the club but that's not good enough for us ...

Well I just think the big mistake was letting the club get to the level it was financially at the end of the 09/10 season. We get a 12mil per year sponsorship that summer with fx pro, revenue we clearly needed the previous too seasons. This mismanagement led in my view to the departure of O'neill which has resulted in us being here now with a near certain pure managerial appointment.

If Randy had run the club properly from the start, had gone out and got the best football ceo he could and tapped every revenue stream we would not be here now. The blame for our relegation battle season is his.

That is my opinion and it has a very solid reasoning for it. Nothing off the cuff or random about it, I've detailed it many times before. I'd prefer a properly run club to this one.

Don't agree with this at all!

The shirt sponsor: The club went with Acorn's in support of a local charity, a move which was hailed at the time, and something I still massively respect the board for doing.

Revenue Streams: Randy and the board have tapped revenue streams but at the same time they've also tried to do the right things by the fans. Holding ticket and season ticket prices where possible, making large investments into the training ground to attract bigger players to satisfy the fans desire for champions league football, investing our traditions such as the hotel etc. There are lots of things people forget about other than the squad that the board have supported, MOSTLY at the request of fans. I find it really hard to accept that some of those same fans are now blaming Randy for his management of the clubs finances.

As someone's already mentioned he's pumped near 100 mill into players, not to mention an insane amount into players wages most of which were signed during MON's stay.

In my opinion, the main mistake Randy made (and it's still not been made public why O'Neil left) was not being able to come to an agreement with MoN about funds vs wages. We're led to believe MoN left as he was told to cut the wage bill before buying new players and not being able to spend the Milner money. However, 6 months later we buy Darren Bent,

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I'm almost certain if Randy could go back to the start of last season knowing what we know now, he would have said to MoN, "Let's get the wage bill under control this season, offload the players u don't need that are on huge £40k a week contracts, and I'll fully support you in making a big bold move for an experienced striker with £25m to spend". That may well have kept hold of O'Neil and none of the subsequent issues (Houllier, McAllister, McLeish, bla blah) would ever have surfaced!

For me, it's more that 1 issue that snowballed this whole situation - nothing to do with Randy's financial management - which imo has always been prudent, well invested, but also generous when it's needed to be.

Do you really want the Holte End being renamed 'The Dominoes Pizza Stand'???

I can't buy into this at all. Our players have left recently for exactly the same reason as yours have. The most high profile player to leave recently was Lescott, who left in exactly the same reasons as Gareth Barry. Pienaar left as he wanted CL football, and go it.

We need to sell to buy, we dont need to sell to keep the club afloat. Our finances are a problem but are not the endemic some make them out to be.

Everton and Villa are both in the same position where we're stuck under the glass ceiling of the top 4. Players leave our clubs for the same reasons. Either they're greedy or their tired of waiting for our clubs to make the great leap forward.

Yup totally agree with this! Though actually I think you guys are better at keeping your top players than we are - e.g. Cahill, Arteta etc. Not sure if this is reflective of the club's reputation being bigger, the top 4 finish some years back, the manager, or a more rounded squad culture - but it's definitely an area Villa need to work on because we're becoming THE feeder club of the top 4/5/6 at the moment.

Matt Kendrick from the mail:-

David Moyes, Frank Rijkaard and Mark Hughes remain high up the fans’ wish-list of new bosses following the latest online poll on the Birmingham Mail website on Friday.

But Villa’s hopes of recruiting any of them remain slim for different reasons and their new favoured choice is not believed to come from that trio of high-profile names."

Claudio Raneiri anyone ?

Last week I mentioned about Ranieri and Moyes on the General's thread 3 times and each time I posted, it was taken off, don't know why....mmm...???

Other people mentioned other manager names and their posts were not taken off.

Would like to read more into it, but your posts were probably removed because the mods have re-iterated 100's of times not to ask the general questions about managers or players. But you never know!

#avfc Roberto Martinez has told Randy no. But no prob as Randy spoke David Moyes last night and David is meeting Randy today. Now u know

Don't know if this guy is the real MM but he has Kendrick and a few others following him

I think it's pretty doubtful that he's the real MM considering he only signed up to Twitter an hour ago...

I give up I really do! This has been the worst time ever on these boards

Yet here we all are, pressing the refresh button every 5 minutes at all hours of the day!

This thread seems to take more turns than than a wheel and after 212 pages, we still **** all.

212 pages?? It must be close to 1,000 pages now as this is the 3rd thread I think!!

With him, yes but not with the supporters who pay money to the club - its becoming a laughing stock.

Which supporters are you supposedly speaking on behalf of? You don't speak for me, and from the comments on this forum it seems you don't speak for the majority of others either...

We also need a man who can convince players to stay, Martinez is not the guy - for goodness sake Randy.

Exactly, right now we need someone with a reputation that the players will respect and want to stick around for because they believe he'll help us challenge for the CL. Otherwise it's goodbye all out best players, which in turn lowers our clubs reputation for attracting big names and we're back to where we were before O'Neil joined.

Martinez?? The man to challenge for champions league, persuade players like Downing and Bent to stay and convince big name signings to join? Oh dear.....

As promised, an education in football.

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12191410/an-education-in-football-part-1-next-aston-villa-manager?listid=23880607

Never mind an education in football, you need an education in telling the truth.

Lol!! I've changed my mind, I want that dummy as the next Villa manager!!

Ok so with Jol out, Hughes unlikely, McLaren hated, Moyes not interested and what ever is going on with Carlo the situation has changed alot since GH left.

If the situation is as it seems i would say;

A) go all out for Martinez, a very promising young european manager, lacking a bit of experience but a good motivator and well respected by his players

or

Make GMac manager, KMac Assistant, and bring in Laursen to replace Kmac.

Opinions Please!

Are you being serious or just trolling like others on here?

GMac and KMac?? Where's GMac's managerial record for one? Secondly how on earth are we going to retain our best talents and convince new ones to join under GMac? Do you honest think the likes of Young, Downing, Bent etc believe GMac has what it takes to get us challenging for the champions league?

Reputation of the man taking over is just as important here as his managerial skill in my opinion as we've reached that point now where after a few years of being in and around the challengers we're starting to slip away - our players know it too and won't stick around long unless we get someone who they truly believe has the ability to get us back in contention!

Given the long list of potential manager's that are available to approach (more than 10 reasonable ones have been posted on the thread), I would be absolutely dismayed if the board decide to approach McClaren.

Just because they're mentioned here doesnt make them available...you do know that?

Given the long list of potential manager's that are available to approach (more than 10 reasonable ones have been posted on the thread), I would be absolutely dismayed if the board decide to approach McClaren.

Just because they're mentioned here doesnt make them available...you do know that?

Of course mate - I'm not being naive here. There have probably been over 50 names mentioned by people but when I say 'reasonable ones' I'm talking 10 that as far as we're aware would have been reasonable for us to approach.

Of course we don't know if they're REALLY 'available'. CA was available until he ruled himself out, others we think are available may follow.

But it would be criminal to appoint McClaren and then turn around and say 'well we didn't think anyone else was available'. We should have at least tried.

If we end up hiring McClaren because he was truly and honestly the ONLY decent candidate who was available and willing to manage us, then fair enough - the board don't really have an option do they? But at the moment, especially while people like Hughes are definitely available to approach, there are other (and in my opinion better) options.

I'm not being fickle here but if we get McLaren I'm not renewing my season ticket. People will probably say the club don't need fans like me, but following the Houllier appointment, this'll be the 2nd time the board haven't listened to the fans, who clearly know their stuff, about who they want.

We're not expecting Mourinho or Guardiola..... But McLaren?

Shopping at the Bull Ring with the missus on a Saturday afternoon it will be.

If this actually happens....and it hasn't yet....but if it does..

I agree 100%. People will say 'you need to support the club regardless of the manager', and whilst I agree with this also, as you mention this would be the 2nd time the fans have been ignored on what's surely the biggest decision the owners have to review each season - the manager.

I can excuse the Houllier situation as on paper given what was available in a short time, so close to the start of the season it probably made sense.

However, we have ample opportunity this time round to appoint a manager who will genuinely drive us forward. For us, that means someone with a good pedigree, record AND reputation. Reputation IS important for this club, more so than other clubs because as a club we don't have the reputation of the top 6 in order to attract and retain quality players. BUT a manager with a big reputation can!

Given the long list of potential manager's that are available to approach (more than 10 reasonable ones have been posted on the thread), I would be absolutely dismayed if the board decide to approach McClaren. Some people say 'he's a decent coach and could do better than when he was at boro if he had a decent squad'. Well we won't have a decent squad any more if players like Downing and Bent end up leaving because they can't work with or don't respect McClaren and believe he'll make us challenge the top 6.

Of all the analysis and stats crunching the board likely goes through to determine a short list - I honestly have no idea how McClaren's name could ever pop out as a contender.

Hoping this is all just media garbage.

I reckon Randy should keep everybody guessing.. call a press conference to be shown live on Sky or something & then simply say.... "Ladies & Gentlemen.... I would like to introduce the new Aston Villa manager....... then drum roll

.lights flashing.

Strobe on

out walks

........................................ .> CARLO ANCELOTTI

Who announces the new manager is Steve Mclaren

LOL I really wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry! :shock:

My reasons for not wanting him are simple - I think he wasted a hell of a lot of money on some shoddy players and I don't like the way his teams play. I can't say I have much time for Liverpool, but the way he had them set up was a disgrace to their traditions. I didn't like watching our direct counter attacking under MON and fear it would be a return to that under Rafa. And God help us if he introduced zonal marking - like we don't leak enough goals already.

This!

Hope to god it's not Rafa.

As a lifelong villa fan living amongst 3 generations of Liverpool fans in my family, I can honestly say I'd actually be happy with anyone EXCEPT Benitez!! I had to put up with non stop moaning about his ridiculous transfers, dreary style of football, poor man management and total disregard for the club's youth system.

Somebody said in an earlier post that despite what he's achieved in some seasons, he would just be a very bad fit for villa.

Whatever you think of MON, I'd hope you'd agree that he did build a very good foundation for this club considering where we were before. What we need now is someone who can further build on it and take us to the next level, not tear it to bits and begin from scratch on a new 5 year plan...

Heskey for Albrighton...the nail in the coffin. If these are the sort of changes we expect to be able to change games with all season we might as well pack up now...

Carew is doing more harm than good today!!! We'd be better off with 10 men!

Get Albrighton off at half time, NRC on, Young on the right hand side. Push Ireland forward. Carew, boot the prick up the backside. Shocking penalty.

KMack needs to earn the job if he wants it.

Well the problem is, he doesn't want it!! Have you not seen the countless interviews lately suggesting this?