backenricker

Agreed- the squad is poor but with some good results in December and Moyes in charge - we could attract better players in January to improve the squad. For example - Moyes signed Baines, Lescott, Jagielka, Tim Cahill, Howard, Arteta, Pienaar, Coleman, Fellani all for fees well within Villa's price range... Do we want players like the above - the likes of Charlie Austin & Andros Townsend to come in January - who would be hungry and playing for a place in the England squad for the Euros next summer? Or will we be signing more untried players from France...?

After leaving Sociedad, Moyes said he had recently turned down job offers from England. “I made a firm promise to Real Sociedad to honour my contract and it is disappointing not to be able to fulfil this commitment especially when I have turned down a number of job opportunities in recent months.” IF one of those job opportunites was the Villa position, that means Moyes was first choice for the Villa job - He's available now. It would be a tough decision - I get that, but again - these are desperate times and the circumstances have changed since Garde was appointed.

Remi Garde is considered a very good technical coach and always comes across as an absolute gentleman, but it’s looking increasingly like he is not the right man for Aston Villa at this moment in time…; Relegation battles require teams with spirit, desire, energy, commitment, endeavour, determination, grit – the non-technical attributes which this Villa side are not displaying right now. After Sherwood, Villa needed a long-term manager, not another short-term coach. Garde - in time, maybe with a pre-season and some of his own signings - might be OK. But there are too many if's there and ‘time’ is not a luxury Villa have right now… David Moyes was not available when Garde was appointed. He IS available now and the next 4 fixtures before the January window kicks-in will determine whether this Villa side have ANY chance of staying in the Premier League AND what calibre of players we can hope to attract in the January window...; Newcastle (A) West Ham (H) Norwich (A) Sunderland (A) These are desperate times. The Players, The Fans, The Club – all need a lift from somewhere and Moyes would give us that. Moyes’ Everton teams always worked their socks off and that kind of heart is the only thing that is going to keep Villa in the Premier League. There is a better chance of Moyes taking the job NOW, when he has more of an opportunity to turn things around, than at a later date when relegation looks even more of a certainty. The Board are obliged to give Aston Villa the best possible chance of staying up. That is their duty to the club and fans. Moyes - NOW, is the only way I can see us getting out of this mess…

A manager who (presumably) would have been sacked from his last two jobs would be the only choice? Yes. The United job was impossible after Ferguson and I'd suggest that the issues at United were as much at board level where Woodward replaced Gill. Also - Moyes had an almost identical record to van Gaal after 50 United games. The only difference was - Moyes spent 200m LESS. What I'm suggesting is that 'the right appointment' is more important than 'a quick appointment'. And I'm making a case for why Moyes would be a good fit for Villa. In transfer terms, we operate at a certain level in terms of the calibre of player we can attract; Again - Moyes signed Cahill, Lescott, Baines, Jagielka, Pienaar, Coleman, Arteta, Howard ... from lesser clubs. That is the same level Villa are at - signing potential, so Moyes is worth considering. If you consider this from Moyes' point of view - 3 of Villas next 4 games are Spurs, City and Everton. In that exact same period, 3 of Sociedads next 4 games are against Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Barcelona. The landscape could look entirely different in a few weeks time. And things could pan-out in Villa's favour. For the right, long term appointment - there is merit in waiting to see what happens with Moyes situation...

You are talking about a man who is already in employment. Is he likely to walk out on his current job and pay his contract up to join a sinking ship like us. 3 of Sociedad's next 4 games are against Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Barcelona. All of whom are riding high in the league. If Moyes was to lose those games and end up back in the relegation places, he could be sacked anyway...McDonald is an able deputy for now. Maybe Villa should just ride it out for a few weeks... 'see what happens at Sociedad before making a short-sighted appointment for the sake of it. I mean - Remi Garde? Nigel Pearson? Poyet? WTF?It's also interesting that Moyes hasn't just come out and rubbished the Villa links. If he has no intention of taking the Villa post he would gain a bit of credit with his current employers by publically committing himself to Sociedad. He's not doing that.Moyes should be the No.1 and ONLY choice at this time. It should be his job to turn down.

It has to be Moyes job to turn down surely? On paper, there cannot be any better candidate and if the board aren't doing everything they can to get Moyes this opportunity will be lost. Moyes is proven in the PL. He could be a long-term appointment and his dealings in the transfer market at Everton were excellent - Lescott, Tim Cahill, Jagielka and many others all signed from Championship. Seamus Coleman, Tim Howard, Steven Pienaar, Arteta, Fellani recruited from overseas - some as relatively unknown players... He operated - very successfully at Everton, under similar financial limitations he'd face at Villa. And for Moyes - he's unlikely to get another top 4 gig any time soon... The tier below the top 5 clubs - e.g. Spurs, Villa, Everton - that's his level. Might he even get another chance at clubs like that? ... On paper, it screams Moyes. I cannot believe the calibre of some of the names being linked - Garde?? Pearson???? It should be a shortlist of managers who have previous in the PL - Moyes, Rodgers or Redknapp. End of.

On the plus side; Sherwood now has an opportunity to build his own side a lot quicker. He's lost Given, Vlaar, Delph, Cleverly and most likely Benteke in the space of 6 months. The entire spine of the team needs replacing and instead of rebuilding the team over the course of 2 or 3 years, he's got a chance - and £40m quid, to do it almost immediately. Any good manager would relish that challenge and I'm sure Tim will. Exciting times.

In his Rangers days, Hutton was by far their best player and the player Celtic fans - like me - feared the most. He was/is an EXcellent attacking full back. As he was in his first season at Spurs. I had hoped that a fresh start under Lambert may have been able to get the very best out of him again, and it's sad to see how some sections of fans have turned on him... He's an attacking full back. But how many chances did he get to go forward last season under McLeish??? I'll be sad to see him go because it would be just another waste of talent at VP.

Very poor from our board... Vlaar had this to say about his meeting with Lambert "I was in Birmingham to have talks with Paul Lambert and left with a very positive impression" So Lambert obviously did a good job when speaking to him, and Vlaar obviously bought into that and had his heart set on the move - hence the reason why he seems so annoyed now - so the easiest thing in the world to do whilst the team is away on tour was provide Vlaar or his agent with some reassurance that the club were still interested in signing him. There's a huge amount of upheaval involved for a player moving to a new country, so it's understandable that Vlaar is anxious to know where he stands. From a communications point of view - for there to have been NO further contact whatsoever is more than unprofessional, it's just bad manners. And shows a complete lack of empathy with the player. Again, we have reason to question exactly what job Paul Faulkner does? What's his brief exactly? What are his responsibilities? The resulting adverse PR was completely avoidable. It's been poorly handled... add to that rap sheet the unprofessional fall-out with MON, the selection of Houllier, the highly questionable appointment of McLeish against fans wishes, and now this.... Villa just look very VERY clumsy at boardroom level. I have to say - I feel sorry for Vlaar. He obviously the desire to play for Villa and definitely looked like an improvement on what we had in that position. A good player lost.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Some-say-he-could-defeat-11-Russians-with-half-a-face/249067728465257

Dear Mr. Lerner, Since your arrival at Aston Villa Football Club, you have been a model chairman. You have improved the club on and off the pitch, and have helped to cultivate a better public perception of AVFC. Your enthusiasm for all things Villa has been first class. You seemed to grasp footballing culture. How it has been forged. The heritage. The traditions. The passion. However, should it happen, this mind-boggling appointment will demonstrate a complete lack of empathy with the Villa fanbase. In fact, it will demonstrate complete disregard. I hope and pray that it will not, but June 17th 2011 could become the day that you disconnected from Aston Villa Football Club. The appointment of Alex McLeish could be enough to pull the plug on the enormous amount of goodwill you have built in your tenure at Villa to date and ruin your legacy here. For the good of AVFC, the fans, the players, and your-good-self... Please think this one through.

Martinez Avoided relegation on the last day of the season. No experience at the top end of the league. Only honour on his CV is a League One title with Swansea. Is this really the standard of manager we’re looking for? I’m hoping that there’s no truth to this.

4th - Without question. The FA Cup is not half as prestigious as it once was... The opportunity to play against some of the top clubs in Europe, generate more revenue for the club, attract better players, and keep the players we have! all of which would, in-turn make FUTURE FA Cups wins and progress in the Premier League more likely, has got to take priority here.... 4th. 100%