TB

I don't think he'd necessarily be finished in the game as such - there will always be some Championship club looking for a manager able to grind out results, no matter how boring the playing style might be. But he'd definitely be ruled out as a top tier manager. He claimed he had waited 20 years for a job like this. I'm sure he'd love to get us promoted, stay on as Villa manager and developing a more attacking playing style with the players available to him. Not sure he (or his coaches?) has the ablity, though. I have a hunch that the board have decided on a playing style, and have brought in players according to their vision, presumably with the manager's approval. (If SB didn't agree, I think he'd have walked by now - unless the thought of being the Villa manager is too tempting after 20 years in the wilderness. Hopefully, he has more integrity than that.) If he did disagree he should already have been replaced by now. No more Sherwood "I've scouted them for years/ they weren't my signings!" malarky.

If they recommend David Moyes as Villa manager I'll join the Round & Wyness out camp. Can't see it though.

And even back then many fans wanted MON's kind of continuity to be replaced by something better/more progressive. Playing his 1st eleven until they were totally exhausted in March, subs in the 73rd minute on the dot, bringing in a brand-new back four and then still playing CBs as full-backs etc. Unless you mean that the discontinuity he created when he suddenly upped and left days before the new season was about to start still lingers.

Not sure if that's what we really need. Those demands this season didn't help us in any way. But yes, demanding to have a manger (foreign or not) is indeed unrealistic. (Insert your own "Feed the ***** and he will score" or "Away with the manager" jokes here)

One more club in the PL this season to have an under-sized pitch: Spurs. 100m x 67m. 5m shorter, but just 1m narrower. I don't believe a difference of one meter in pitch width makes that much difference.

Um. PL pitch sizes have been required to conform to the 105m x 68m standard for several years now, unless the construction of the ground makes it physically impossible, thus ending up with a somewhat shorter and/or narrower pitch. (Stamford Bridge 103m x 67.5m, Selhurst Park 101 x 68m, Goodison Park 100.48 x 68 m, Anfield 101m x 68m.) They might at that, but that's not due to the size of the pitch. The Etihad has the standard 105m x 68m pitch, and Upton Park also had a 105m x 68m pitch after the Premier League standardized the pitch size.

Oh, no, that won't work either :-) You'd still be wanting to get rid of both in an either/or hypothethical scenario. In the real world, however, I doubt any Villa fans would mind very much if the club sold both players and replaced them with better quality.

Um. Of course you may have a point there, but Demitri's post was an either/or question, expecting a choice to be made. To quote the old The Statler Brothers' song: You Can't Have Your Kate And Edith, Too...

Well, inferior products have been known to end up as being market winners due to better/more aggressive marketing campaigns and/or the competition believing that their (superior) product would speak for itself. Which I believe was the actual point of danceoftheshamen's post. IMO, and all that...

Um. Guess it'll never happen, but I saw Jacob Bedeau's name mentioned in another thread on here and I instantly started humming the Pink Panther theme ...

Not just Baker by name, then? Proving to be blooming useful.

Best match between username and comment I've ever seen.

Oh, darn it.

What a load of f***ing sh*t (not your post, of course)

Young family moving to a new country, about to have their firstborn, not speaking the language, so depending on (apparently close to non-existent) support from the club. Manager won't give him the time of day, not speaking to him for a month and then when things went belly-up publicly washing his hands of him and the other foreign players, saying they were not his choices, despite claiming he'd been scouting them for a long time at the time of their signing. UK-based overpaid and underperforming players doing their anti-French Secret Santa video, showcasing an obvious dressing room split. New French-speaking manager not given any support at all during the next transfer window, but instead left to struggle with a badly malfunctioning squad (I believe Garde was the wrong choice at the time - a Frenchman brought in when there were an obvious English-based vs. French newcomers split in the squad just swapped the us/them stances, but I still believe he might have been a good choice given a pre-season and some money to bring in the players he wanted.). At the time of relegation, there were Villa fans on this and other forums worrying that Villa might indeed face a second relegation due to the abysmal state (and team performances) of the club. If he actually have said what DeadlyDirk claimed he did, I don't blame him at all.

I certainly hope you are. That would mean that Steve Bruce wouldn't entertain the idea.

Bit late, and possibly off topic - are you referring to pre-Villa Lambert or latter-day Villa Lambert here? IMO, there's a vast difference. His years at Villa involved a 180 degree turn from the 'you may indeed score, but we'll outscore you nevertheless' mindset that originally brought him to Villa to the 'batten down the hatches and hope for a nil-nil win' that eventually saw him out. And I just cannot fathom how anyone would want to tar Sherwood, Di Matteo and Garde with the same brush unless their disastrous time at Villa is the only factor. Even then, you might want to consider the money allotted to each of them during transfer windows.

Hic Villa, hic salta?

The right man at the right time, that is. When Garde was appointed you may say that it was a bizarre appointment, given the obvious us vs them split in the dressing room. Dutch manager / Italian / Spanish / Scandinavian / Russian / etc might have a chance at unifying the dressing room. A Frenchman without any January backing was doomed to fail. I believe Garde - if he was allowed to have a pre-season, decent transfer backing and no Villa history whatsoever - might be a good appointment. However, that ship has sailed. He's spoiled goods, now.

Oh well. Veni, vidi, cessi? Or bibo, ergo sum?

I guess he's hoping for a new manager at Villa in the summer. There's a difference between closing a door on a player and the player not being able to get past a malfunctioning electrical gate.

A yoke for a single egg? Must be a pretty hard-boiled one, then. (probably one that was hatched to Chicken Skin Music...)

IMO, thinking about what Westwood would be able to add to the game, adding Richards into the equation would end up with a negative answer :-)

Ah. Now we're entering maths territory. 2 + (-5) =?