Lerner's Driver

I'd say chances are somewhere between 0% and 100% at the moment but those numbers could change.

Did he have his dog with him? No dog. Oh, I wonder where he was off to next.

Did he have his dog with him?

Time to lay another bet, that on Sunday, December 13th Sky will bill the Villa match as 'Master vs the Apprentice' (itk)

Allez, les claret et bleus!

Weirdly easy money on this - like the bookies were napping. Ahh well, free beer for a while!

Because being a Villa an is by its nature full of uncertainty!

I've been wondering that myself Ash. Assuming he is successful in getting the players to buy into his ideas and he creates the recognisable team ethic we've so obviously been lacking, then I think even if we are relegated he would be mad to go because he will have set something in motion worth developing. No matter who comes in as our next manager, the Villa job can't be seen as anything other than 'a project' at the moment. There are no easy options, now Allardyce and Pullis are out of the picture, so we have to take a punt and Garde is definitely that. For me the main thing is that he is able to show progress - if fans see that, then most things can be forgiven and perhaps even the unthinkable.

I just lumped £150 on Mr Garde @‌ 4/6, so here's hoping!

Totally agree Rich and it is the slow, painful death, which makes it so hard to bear. If Lerner is the body of Aston Villa, the fans are the lifeblood and his bad diet of scraps and fast food has turned us into an ever weakening anorexic. The occasional shot in the arm, we get roughly once a year, when we feast on the hope a new manager brings, quickly fades when all that nourishment is spent and we return to being a bag of bones. This can only go on so long...

First half more like it - second half old habits. Again, we weren't outplayed, just beaten by a more coherent team. I worry that the spin we are in is irreversible.

Going down this year is a real prospect, so... are we saying so long as the bloke puts up a good fight and gives a passable impression of knowing what he's doing, we'll stick with him in the Championship?

That's because Harry Redknapp is an absolute cunte He's not my favourite bloke either but what do you think of the percentage influence a manager can have?

So here's a thought, whilst we all muse on who it will be next, whether Garde, or someone else... Appy Arry was in the Metro the other day saying a manager only makes at most 10% difference to the fortunes of a club and the rest is down to the quality of the players. I think he could well be right, but if he is that makes his role even more vital if the margins of influence are so small. It also provides the likes of Sherwood and other sh*te managers with a handy get out because they can always say they weren't his players and the ones he got just weren't good enough. Fact is, we are where we are (up the creek) and we need someone with intelligence to make the best of our squad and give it a shot - a workman who likes working and won't blame his tools. The more I think about it, Remy fits this criteria. Sure it may not work, but even if we go down, I think he could help us build something interesting. I'm all for it.

I thinking meant Rudolph it's near Christmas and he wants to make sure Santa gets to his house on time and gives him his book on being diplomatic when talking on air about coloured players More likely he and Rudolph are meeting to debate who's nose is redder and which one is more likely to reach for the whiskey first.

"Tim Sherwood won't get relegated. I believe in myself and this team. If we're bottom at Christmas I won't panic." All 100% correct. - He won't get relegated. - He will always believe in himself, even when we get nuked by North Korea - He won't need to panic because he'll be treating the family to Christmas in the Bahamas using his severance pay.

Agreed, neither are suitable, but if it is a choice I would instantly rule out Southgate. There isn't a more boring man alive.

If by some miracle, the next bloke does manage to keep us up and we arrive in the promised land of untold wealth next season, does anyone think Lerner will invest then, or will he be keeping that money for himself? Although the latter is obviously extremely unpalatable, it might be reason on its own for him to make a Bent like signing in January to boost the new man's chances?

"I think we looked poor against West Brom and Stoke but, other than that, have been 'OK' this season on the whole. We should've won against Leicester (Sherwood's fault) and Sunderland (players' fault), should've got a draw against Palace (players' fault) and were unlucky against Man Utd and West Brom (despite being poor) in other ways. Basically, this could be quite a bit better right now without anything other than very specific incidents on the pitch happening" Bobzy, you are right in your analysis of individual matches, but what you are missing is the cumulative effect. If we are not there yet, and actually I'd argue that we are, sooner or later playing quite well, but still losing quickly turns into hopeless shite and that is very hard to reverse. Lambert was the very epitome of this and now Sherwood is repeating the trick. You can definitely say its not all his fault - we are rotten from top to bottom, but that's how it is at the moment and somebody has to do the job, so it makes sense to employ an old soldier, rather than a rookie - someone whose been around and can take the stick whilst still making something good happen. Allardyce, much as his football is unpleasant, is that kind of guy - Sherwood, Rodgers and Monk are not. Allardyce has gone so, whose left?

Good question Villarocker! If the next guy takes us down it could hardly be classed as his fault, certainly not totally, which is why he'd probably stay in charge even if that happened. However, if he presided over 0 victories and 0 improvement, he too would probably go. Either way, that realistic possibility does place some serious pressure on whomever is appointed next. Very probably we will get it wrong and 'go cheap' in keeping with recent thinking.

Foxy knows it has to be done - the science says so, as this study from last year demonstrates - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13606719.2014.910000 You don't know what you're doing! The impact of managerial change on club performance in the English Premier League AbstractIt is widely regarded that the role of the football manager is one of chronic insecurity. The pressure on the modern day football manager for consistently high club performance is intense, particularly due to the continuing rise in revenues available to clubs competing in elite leagues. Managerial change often occurs when a clubs’ form declines. However, whether managerial change is beneficial for a club remains unclear. This study addresses this area of examination by analysing data on managerial changes within the last decade (2003/2004 to 2012/2013) in the English Premier League. The main findings of this study were that managerial changes led to an increase in points per match but did not necessarily lead to an improvement in final league position. Further analysis revealed that when considering final league position, clubs in the bottom half of the table improved their final league position, while clubs in the top half did not.

Imagine being given £2m to go away...

Re: the qualities of our next manager - right now, we need a back to basics escapologist. We do not need another fantasy world apologist...

One quote sums up the manager's inadequacies and provides Mr Fox with all the evidence he requires... "Why should we be more pragmatic? I would never be pragmatic. I've done it a few times, but I don't like myself for it". Tiger Tim stands tall, alone on the beach, bravely goading the ocean, daring it to take him on. But the ocean, being an inanimate force of nature, doesn't even notice, as he disappears beneath it's waves.