apate

Garde is a perfect fit IMO for Villa. I cannot remember the last time we had an intelligent and tactically astute manager. He had been touted as Wengers eventual replacement and was loved at Lyon where they considered him to be their equivalent of Pep Guardiola. If he joins us, he as much chance of saving us as anyone. OK he may not be able to avoid relegation (I am not certain if anyone could) but I am confident that this guy could help Villa rise from the ashes.  For too long with notable exceptions over 20 years ago, we have "made do" with managers who either had no pedigree, maybe a good couple of seasons elsewhere or in Sherwoods case 25% of a season. We have undoubtedly had our moments with managers but a looking back to Graham Taylor first time round it shows that we have got progressively worse in picking managers

Sherwood - was probably the most tactically inept manager we ever had but sounded good and talked himself into the job.

Lambert - he did well at Norwich in the Champsionship but was he ever cut out to be a PL manager at a club that was in dire financial straits? His constant reference to "the project" illustrated that he role first and foremost was to cut the wage bill and make do with lower league players. From time to time he had good spells albeit very brief, but as we got deeper into trouble his tactics were all over the place.

McLeish - like everyone else I could never fathom why we went anywhere near him. Probably the most boring and negative manager we ever had. He did nothing at sha and managed to get them relegated - his reward? The managers job at Villa - incredible! 

MON - I will not deny that I was excited by his appointment and for a while it looked like we were going somewhere. But then it started to unravel as he loaded us with journeymen on high wages, had no depth in the squad and injuries took their toll. He was reputed to be a good man manager and had flashes of inspiration but tactics were not his strength and his legacy left us in a mess. He didn't build for the future and when the money ran out he ran away leaving us with lots of overpaid players.

O'Leary - All mouth and no trousers - he was never going to make it as a PL manager and was another one whose profile got him into the job. An egotist in the extreme he thought his career at Arsenal made him natural management material. He hadn't got a clue. 

Graham Taylor (2nd time round) - his appointment was an act of desperation by Ellis - second time round he had lost the plot. 

John Gregory - another manager that I liked as a person, Villa through and through. But his football was dour and relationship with Ellis meant it was never going to end well. Signed some good players and had he been able to get another couple I think his reign would have been longer. His biggest mistake was undervaluing and not signing Robbie Keane.

Brian Little - loved Brian as a player - one of my few real heroes. IMO he had the makings of a great Villa manager. When he joined he saved us from relegation and start to build a new squad that did extremely well achieving our two highest finishes in the PL in the last 20 years - 4th/5th while also winning the League Cup. But his big mistake was buying Collymore who in turn let him down badly. No idea why he left but think Collymores signing was his undoing and that Ellis was to blame in someway. 

Ron Atkinson - Big personality that managed to put together a hard working team with tremendous spirit that came second to Man United in the first season of the PL. But for the seven minutes extra time that Man United were given at Sheffield Wednesday he may have well won the PL for us. How different might things have then panned out for the future of our club. However  his ageing squad and relationship with Ellis meant it was never going to end well.

Joe Venglos - Our first "foreign" manager. Joe arrived after formerly managing Czechoslovakia to the quarter finals of the World Cup. A weird appointment by Ellis, Joe never managed to get us going and we finished two positions off the relegation zone. And he was off

Graham Taylor - First time round he was a great manager. In his first season he helped us get back into division one, struggled as he rebuilt in his second but in his third almost won Division one finishing second to Liverpool after often leading the league playing great football. Then England came calling and he was off. 

 

In my opinion, we have had enough of dross managers and need someone who is intelligent and can change our clubs direction - Garde if he joins us could be the one to it. Moyes, Rogers, Pearson and many of the others named offer nothing for the future beyond surviving as a second rate PL team. 

Our recent record with British players/managers is pretty bad.   Clearly they means they don't suit villa and we shouldn't bring any new ones in.   That rules out most of the other names suggested on here.

You know, you might be on to something there.

I've noticed that they are all men too, clearly men don't suit Villa so we shouldn't bring any new ones in.

Come to think of it, they'd all have two legs too. Monoped's only from here on in.