briny_ear

Don't knock him, he's the only person so far who actually wants to join the club next season... (EDIT - except of course John Gregory :shock: )

I'm old enough to remember when Heskety was good but, sadly, we got him just as the candle finally went out.

Can't believe people are "leaving" a messageboard because a couple of threads got locked. OGS said he didn't want to manage Villa, so why exactly should that one have been kept open? Lambert - apparently we haven't approached him and he's angry about speculation he's going to leave Norwich so there isn't much to say, is there? I really hope that one gets unlocked soon, though, when Lerner gets round to making an offer. As for allowing lots of different threads on similar topics, there is in my view nothing more irritating than reading the same selection of opinions over and over in slightly differing threads.

Barton may well be "entertaining" as some people are suggesting. I am sure he would have had a great career as a prizefighter or a wrestler. Entertaining or not, however, he has no place on a football pitch or in a premier league club and I truly hope this is the end of his career.

Premier League survival is essential again and a more progressive, attacking approach. I would also like more clarity from the board about their investment plans for the club and their goals for the team. Finally, I would want Villa Park to become a "fortress" - 2 points per match average from our home games would not only give us a sound base for survival, it would also make the home fans happier.

I'd rather Lerner just got some decent advice and appointed a manager who would bring us decent results. If appointing managers by popular acclaim from the fans was a successful method, all clubs would do it. The only example I can think of where it happened recently was King Kenny.

Mmm...Apart from the CL qualification they managed to sneak past us... :winkold:

Now there's a letter I'd love to see a leaked copy of... "Dear Mr Gregory Thank you very much for your letter of application for the post of manager of Aston Villa Football Club, with which you enclosed a CV detailing your experience with the Club over ten years ago and your managerial career since then. As you will probably be aware, we received a high level of applications for this post and, unfortunately...(etc., etc.)"

Not at all. Sadly, there isn't a 242-page long thread on this site that has tracked his progress with Olynpiakos obsessively... :winkold:

I think the last person we brought in in the strength of a video was Savo, wasn't it? Look how that ended. :winkold: I did hope for once we would get a sensible and progressive manager in, not the sort of off-the-wall shot in the dark that RL seems to enjoy so much.

Lambert of course. Really don't get this wave of emotion over Solskjaer at all (I didn't even realise he was a manager until all this blew up - that's how much impact his supposed managerial accomplishments have made on my life) but it is bound to end in tears. Maybe he has a letter of recommendation from Sir Alex Ferguson, though. That should swing it with RL.

Let's face it, no-one really has any idea if Solskjaer would make a good manager for AVFC in its present state. Neither do we really know what our present state is - how much money is on the table for a new manager, what expectations will be set by the board, etc. If I ask myself the question, "Could we do better than Solskjaer?" the answer must surely be "Yes". If I ask myself, "Do I understand what the board's strategy would be in going for Solskjaer?" again, I draw a blank. He is an unknown quantity and so, to be frank, are Lerner/Faulkner when it comes to appointments. If he is appointed I will be hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Given the recent history of our club there doesn't seem any other sensible attitude.

Yea, what a knob head. Why the **** would we want to revert back to that dross. Exactly. Tight defending, pacy attacking football, top 4 quality star players... Surely we've grown out of all that by now? :confused:

I think his statement may indicate one of the reaasons he failed. He was perhaps just a bit too respectful of the role he had taken on and overawed by the job. If he'd been more pushy, had more self-belief, been prepared to tell his teams just to go flat out for a win, banged a few heads together in the defence, etc., we might have seen some better results. In a strange way, I'd rather he'd gone kicking and screaming, telling us we don't know what we're going to be missing. If the manager doesn't believe he's the best thing since sliced bread, his teams won't either.

You are probably right. But isn't that an immemnsely depressing thought? Talksport mention a no-hope failed manager in connection with the Villa job and people immediately start betting on him? That doesn't raise my opinion of the betting community very much, nor of the Talksport audience.

Great. Another thread where people can play out the whole futile "MON was responsible for wasting Randy Lerner's money" vs "Randy Lerner bit off more than he could chew financially" debate. All over again. Just what we **** need at this juncture in the club's history. At some point someone is going to have to start looking to the future rather than constantly obsessing about an imagined account of the past which, due to lack of facts, can be constructed however the author chooses. The only truth that can be established is that Randy Lerner is the living embodiment of the old saying, "A fool and his money are soon parted".

It all depends how much money is available.

Fortunately for me, Chelsea away was one of the two games I got to see this season (the other being QPR away). So I had a great season - 2 points per game, swept aside our CL-playing opponents and scored twice as many as we conceded. Remind me, what exactly was the problem with McLeish? :winkold:

This has been our worst season since Billy McNeill.

Doubt whether season ticket sales will increase until people have seen who is the new manager and what he has to say about his ambitions for the club and the resources he has at his disposal.

Caption competition....

Well, praise be for that. Well done Mr Lerner for finally seeing the error of your ways. I do wish, though, the club would stop putting out statements that look as if they've been composed by David Brent. I feel a bit sorry for McLeish - he was always out of his depth and should never have been appointed. He didn't get much support from the Board either in all truth. That and the disaster of the appointment the season before doesn't fill me with too much confidence about the next one. But if the Lambert rumours are true, maybe they have got some proper advice at last. Really cross that I ate something a bit dodgy last night that upset my stomach and I won't be able to have any alcohol today to celebrate.

For his sake as well as ours, he needs to move on from the club now. New challenge for him, new blood for us.

Am spending the weekend in Suffolk and actually thought about trying to get to this match today. Really glad I didn't now. 38 points from 38 matches. Sums up McLeish's approach to the game.

I will spit if/when the Baggies get him.