JimmyTwoTimes

Lovely quote from a Bluenose in the Mail, refering to McLeish:

"‘I just don’t understand why he would even be interested in joining them, to be honest. We are looking to strengthen our squad yet Villa are losing their top players."

How I'd love to discuss these words with the fellow.

How is the relationship between Downing and McClaren?

Did Downing get into the England team when McClaren was England boss?

Seemed to like him enough at Boro.

why would Hughes resign today though ?

1.He has been told off the record that the villa job is his should he wish to apply

2.He was pissed off with Fulham - and the timing of his resignation is just coincidence

3.He knows another vacancy will occur - possibly as a result of villa recruiting a manager at another club.

Only 1 makes any sense to me.

So long as it is not Mclaren or Rafa thats ok by me

4. Chelsea want him as manager.

5. Chelsea want Redknapp as manager and Spurs want Hughes as replacement (=smetrov option 3)

Are you Phil McNulty?

While the erstwhile BBC Chief Sports writer will doubtless be keen to speculate as to the identity of the man many feel will be taking the hot seat at Aston Villa, he may come to have felt that inadvertently exposing his identity on a fans' web forum will come to have been seen as an ill-advised professional misstep. One thing is certain: if Carlo Ancelotti does take the reins at the Midlands club, the Villa hierarchy will doubtlessly hope that the Italian will bring them the success they will surely hope for.

[continues for 2000 words]

Oh. Cheers PhilMac. I like your journalism.

No!

Oh. Good!

Though I like his journalism.

As a sport journalist for a well known organisation I can confirm I have no idea who our manager will be.

But I do know that the best person to listen to is Pat Murphy, he is always right and as that is the case for now we can rule out Hughes. He is suggesting Moyes could be under consideration despite being under contract but also admits he has no clue who the number one target is as the club won't tell him. No second guessing from Murphy, just hard facts.

http://bbc.in/m0tb0S

Also big credit must go to Mat Kendrick, he is definitely another one to keep an eye on.

The rest are all just speculating.

Anyway for the record, Moyes or Ancelotti and I'm happy!

Will update you with my professional opinion on media speculation as it happens.

Are you Phil McNulty?

astonvillalife Aston Villa Life

@ @mjhall39 just had message. Friends with a lot of people at be club including most of the players. Also work with Acorns #avfc

Bully for you astonvillalife. I work with a bunch of tw@ts.

Been chatting to a few Chelsea ST holders at work. They're very disappointed that Ancellotti was sacked - enjoyed his style of play and were, on the whole, pleased with the teams results and the second placed finish. They're big fans of Wilkins, understandably. But maybe that's because he was a bit of a Chelsea bwoy. That CFC job's a poison chalice. No-one's good enough for RA. FWIW, they also fancy Hughes as their next manager.

I'm warming to the idea of MH. Fulham fans definitely want keep him. He's obviously done something right there with a fairly average squad. Top choice would be CA with RW (for his squad handling) for the glamour and style of play. They might just convince SD to stay... and maybe even Webcam.