El-Reacho

Purslow trying to get £40m out of Arsenal apparently. Will be a first who blinks situation as the longer the negotiations go on the less likely Arsenal will be able to turn to another option (Teilemens), but if Purslow can't get a deal done today we'll almost certainly lose him for nothing....

11 minutes ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

I know this is probably an odd thing to write here, but I really hope he doesn't get cabbaged. It makes us look so stupid. 

Agreed. Or purple dildo'd for that matter.

44 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

There's a few rumblings of Lange being the problem.

It's either Gerrard and Lange or Gerrard alone that needs to go. Throw Purslow in as well for me.

I don't care who we did or didn't sign. It isn't this bad. We are set up abysmally and will finish bottom with the formation. With this broken plan. As was pointed out last season.

I suspect he'll be the fall guy here - whether deserved or not. He doesn't ever speak to the media so it'll be ideal to throw him under the bus. I reckon Purslow will clear the whole hierarchy out to protect himself from criticism.

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

Dendoncker, Sarr and Dawson would be good final day with Guilbert, Sanson and Archer leaving (sale and 2 loans). 

I don't think we'll let anyone go. Lange signed Sanson so he'll want him here for the new manager.

3 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

The only way I could have any respect for him now is if he were to resign. 

He and his agent will have gone to great lengths to negotiate his salary. I doubt he’ll walk away from it voluntarily. Stuart Pearce is the only manager I can think of who’s walked away from a pay off in recent memory.

11 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Pity to write off another season from the start 

1997 turned out to be one of our best ever PL seasons….

8 hours ago, kevpants said:

Remember when his legs went as a player and he was going to drop back into a quarterback type role and dictate the play? Remember how shit he was?

That was because he was tactically inept and couldn’t read the game.

He was a blood and thunder, driving run, 30 yard screamer player. He never understood the game. He was never going to be a top manager. 

His massive ego and arrogance removed any sense of self-awareness then just as it’s doing now.

7 minutes ago, Villatillidie95 said:

worse start to a season since 1997, enough said.

GERRARD OUT!

We got the best new manager bounce ever and finished 6th that season. Time to go and get ourselves a new JG.

1 hour ago, pacbuddies said:

Our dumbass owners are likely to sack Gerrard and appoint Scott Parker or the guy that got sacked at Dundee Utd.

Scott Parker's two promotions makes him more deserving of the Villa job than Stevie G is. 

1 minute ago, The_Steve said:

Bailey doesn’t want to leave - it was fake news stuff on Twitter. He was name dropped on an article about possible Ajax targets that included Patrick Kluivert. 

Pretty sure it was Patrick’s son Justin Kluivert. There’s talk of Fulham signing him too.

Wonder will Bournemouth sacking Parker give Purslow a bit of confidence that he can ditch Gerrard now without being seen as not giving him enough of a chance by SG’s media mates.

All on the coach for me. Players are motivated by a good coach who communicates his ideas well. What you’re describing during Sunday’s game is players with zero motivation because they don’t understand what they’re being asked to do.

4 minutes ago, Nabby said:

SG looks the same mistake as Garde in as much as  CEO going back to his old club to pick up a former player , all be it SG had a much higher profile as a player than Garde.

Not sure Fox and Garde would have had any connection at Arsenal if that’s what mean? Garde was at Arsenal about 10years before Fox.

I actually think if they’d given the job to Garde that summer instead of sticking with Sherwood it might’ve worked as he would’ve worked well with Riley who was obviously driving the French recruitment. We’d have never signed Lescott or Richards….

17 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Roy Keane

Gary Neville

won more, played more often at the top ends were horrible managers…I can name loads more the same,

It’s easier to try and list the elite level players who’ve gone on top be top managers. There’s not very many.

27 minutes ago, WooJung said:

Is it fair to say he's the most disliked manager we've had in at least a decade? I'm trying to think of competition and I mainly think of Bruce, Garde and McLeish.

McLeish was rubbish and had the blues connection, but came across as an honest, humble and nice bloke.

Garde was rubbish and unpleasant, but pretty much took an impossible job.

Bruce could be very unpleasant, was rubbish and underachieved, but to his credit he did steady the proverbial ship and did lay the foundation on which Dean built our promotion on.

Gerrard is rubbish, he is unpleasant and unlike all three has actually inherited a good squad, and he's greatly contributing to a massive regress not only on the pitch, but apparently off it as well. 

I don’t remember Garde being disliked in anyway. The other managers you’ve mentioned (including SG) had massive egos to the point of arrogance and very little to back it up. Garde tried to go about his business quietly and efficiently but was just massively out of his depth. Most of the anger was toward Lescott/Richards/Gabby etc. who were utterly toxic when Garde tried to impose any level of discipline at the club.

49 minutes ago, trillvillan said:

Great points.

 

But I do think with the pressure on NSWE to bring a big name manager in from the fans - they would be the ones to do it. 

Premier League owners run clubs as businesses - they don’t throw money around based on what fans want. Dans being happy is completely irrelevant in the board room. Even for owners as likeable as NSWE.

34 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

Serious question, would the players privately down tools in the next two games and take a good hammering to see him gone? Not saying they will or it’s what I expect, just wondering if they would consider it?

That’s the kind of thing Agbonlahor would’ve done (and did with Garde). If any of them did it it would leave a pretty nasty stain of unprofessionalism on them.

1 hour ago, brummybloke said:

We have a habit of gambling on managers when we don't need to.

The last top managers we got in and everyone were confident in were big Ron and Sir GT (1st time) and MON, I'm convinced houllier would have taken us forward if not for his medical issues.

We got lucky with Brian Little and Gregory they were gambles.

Dean Smith is the only other manager we have put any though into as his team were playing great football in the same division we were in.

 

Hoping some young manager who does well or ok in a weak league for a few years, will come good in a much more competitive league is unnecessary risk taking.

 

Use the carney money on binning the bin dipper and getting in a good proven manager.

When I think of gambling on a continental name that will excite the footballing hipsters I think of Tom Fox appointing Remi Garde. Had done alright in Ligue 1, had a few good performances in CL and was the worst possible fit for Villa in the position we were in.

I think Premier League success will have to be priority No.1 for the next guy.

4 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Has he not gone yet?

6mins time according to @CarryOnVilla

4 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

Tbf, there were moans about Smith. “Tactically predictable” “doesn’t use subs” “ginger” 

It was the ginger thing that finished him in the end IIRC….

It’s getting harder to compare this situation with Smith’s. The results are the same but Smith wasn’t making basic mistakes that were obvious to everyone watching. Sure smith had a falling out when he dropped Mings but he didn’t alienate him or anyone else in the squad - there were no rumours of him having lost the dressing room.

There was a small chance that Smith could’ve turned things around and he’d done it previously the season we stayed up.

I can’t see anything redeeming SG’s position right now.

10 minutes ago, tinker said:

It wasn't a little mistake , he made a judgement that's took us back 2 years and probably £200m spent supporting his managers system.

It was obviously a massive gamble with Gerrard and while it's not over yet it's beginning to look like the gamble has failed.

Did Gerrard outline his ideas at the interview, marauding full backs and no wingers? We had just brought Beundia and Bailey and had Bert as well. The Grealish saga as well , 3 players to replace 1 , allowing a buy out clause when Grealish had 3 or was it 4 years left on his contract. 

I don't buy into him,  hated the way he treated Smith, he deserved better treatment and to replace him with his old Liverpool mate was so fucXed up. It stank then and its beginning to look like a completely moronic thing to have done. 

He should get someone in to deal with football decisions as he's obviously clueless.

Don't think he can be criticised for this to be honest. If Grealish wanted it in there it's because he knew he would want to leave when City came along. Purslow did well to get it to £100m. You can't just remove the release clause and expect him to sign.

Wonder did he insist on any clauses in his contract if top tier teams come in for him? Maybe has a minimum release similar to Grealish.

I'd say Purslow may try and put the blame at Lange's door. Might see a whole new structure put in place - new DoF/Coach etc.

1 hour ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

It was a theoretical, if we sold him type analogy...

 

Pretty sure we were trying to flog him this time last year and no one wanted him - certainly not for that sort of money.