GeordieVillan

It will be interesting to see what a new manager makes of our squad and who makes it into our starting 11. This is true for Richards in that I would imagine a new manager will shift him straight to right back, and we won't see much of Hutton or Bacuna after that. Unless of course Richards somehow has a contractual clause stating he must play centreback if fit, which would just be mental.

To be honest - that is entirely plausible. If we do employ him and he is successful, I'm sure we would be a stepping stone to better things for him. But I'd be quite happy with that, as it means we've at least been successful for a period of time! That is going to be the case for any managers or players we recruit, unless we have Ian Taylor as manager and 11 Ian Taylors on the pitch!

While it's quite clear that the quicker we can get someone in place the better, you can't rush appointments this important. You've got to get the right person first of all (and we'd all hope work on a shortlist of potentially right people has been going on for some time), then you've got to get all the terms agreed. That's not as simple as just throw more money at them to sign quickly (which wouldn't be a great way to run a business), but what they will and won't be in control of as well as clauses in case it doesn't work out. It shouldn't take 2 to 3 weeks but if we go in to next weekends game with KMc in charge because we're getting it right, that's better than appointing the wrong man quickly. Yeah but what I'm saying is - if they know its going to be Garde, then they should get him in asap, every single day, points and game is crucial now. The only reason for delay is if they are speaking to other candidates.

If it is going to be Garde, then I hope we get him in immediately i.e. today or tomorrow. If he can have a positive impact and inspire the players tomorrow night (Sherwood v Leicester style dare I say it), it will be a massive boost before Monday. We need a win to stop the rot, even if its in the cup. It would be classic Villa to dick-around now for 2-3 weeks before appointing the man they want, and in that time we slip further behind. We need to give new manager a chance to work with the players for a few days at least before a massive game at Spurs...

Honestly don't know how we will lineup for this, but if I remember KMac's brief stint 5 years ago, he played people in their proper positions and we went out to win the game (with varying degrees of success). My guess.... Guzan Hutton Richards Lescott Amavi Bacuna Gana Westwood Grealish Gestede Gabby If was my choice..... Guzan Hutton Richards Clark Amavi Traore Gana Sanchez Grealish Gestede Ayew I don't think Grealish is doing enough in a free role, so lets play him on the left hand side and allow him the freedom to cut inside as much as he wants. Unfortunately I think we could get a hiding here - 3-0 or 4-0 wouldn't be a shock.

i would definitely say bournemouth are down with losing the players they have through injury, but who joins them i dont know. personally i think we will still be in the bottom three by new year. I think based on our current predicament we would accept that if it meant we were within touching distance of the teams above us i.e. within 3 points. Most people fear we won't just be in the bottom 3 come the New Year, but we may be 3 or more wins adrift of safety.

You've fallen for Tim's bullshit there buddy. Absolutely no chance that was the case. In fact, he commented on most of our signings before they happened and took full responsibility for all of them before the season started. Let's wait and see what the squad is actually made of before we go sacking anyone else. This. As much as I wanted Tim to succeed, are we suggesting that if all these guys had hit the ground running and we were top of the league, that Tim would have come out and said "I only coach the players and pick the team, I had no say over the signing, so I'd like thank the board and Paddy for bringing them all in".

Me too sadly. Me three. On paper it looked like a very clever appointment that gave the club a decent structure for the first time in a while. This thread should probably be moved as well!

You would assume that in the last few weeks the club have been preparing for the fact they may have to find a new manager, and that there is a very clear shortlist of candidates already. You would also speculate that at least informal discussions have been held through middle men / back channels to assess if people might be interested. To think otherwise is probably naive in football, business etc. To that end, anyone who we speak to is most probably interested in the job, and would more than likely accept it if offered to them. I would be very surprised if we officially speak to more than a couple of people - as I don't think the club wants another OGS fiasco. Its possible the club will only speak to Garde because they already know he is the one and he is prepared to takeover this week. I don't really know much about him, but he comes with a good reputation and we've tried the young British manager route and it hasn't worked for us, so why not.

Remi Garde turned down Newcastle, and they then went for McLaren.

The squads ceiling is 15th. It is truly awful I reserve judgement until the new manager has had 6-10 games. By then we should know if have a decent team in this squad, and if we have a chance of staying up. I would say this squad's ceiling is probably 10th, but realistically it could finish 15th-17th.

Monk would be like a fish out of water here Yes and you were certainly quick enough to do it. I hope the new manager, whoever it is, is given more time that what sherwood was to manage our football club, even if he has to start again next season in the championship, which seems very probable. Like when Sherwood arrived, I suspect the new manager has a bit of a free hit. If we are relegated by 5 points or less, then people will most likely blame this on Sherwood's start to the season. So regardless, I expect the new manager will be give time, and the chance to get us back up, if we are relegated. I wonder what would have happened in the parallel world where last season Sherwood didn't keep us up, and we went down following his appointment. I suspect he would have been given the chance to get us back up from the Championship, and who knows how that would have gone. Either way, he would probably still have the job now!

Theyalways beat Newcastle The game turned on a sending off and penalty. Sunderland barely had a kick before then, and even since then Newcastle have dominated the game. No chance of Newcastle going down this year - they look a very decent team.

All those who are saying our squad is crap, aren't considering the squads of the teams around us. Its very easy to cherry pick players from other squads and say they would walk into our team, but the fact is that we need a manager to gel our team together and then we can assess how good they really are. On the one hand people are slagging off Sherwood and saying that his management has affected the performances of the players, and on the other hand people are saying the squad isn't good enough anyway. I think we are desperately lacking a centre forward based on what we have seen so far this season, but a new manager may be able to find a formula. e.g. Gestede and Ayew as pair which gets us goals. I think our squad is good enough for mid-table, and I refuse to believe it isn't good enough to finish 17th.

Really? I find it very easy to comprehend, although it hasn't happened in the memorable part of my lifetime. Quantum physics it isn't. We need to win not far off half of our remaining games. Assuming we lose the next two, which given the fixtures seems fairly guaranteed, it will be very close indeed to winning 50% of our remaining games. We just aren't going to do that. As you've noted, our survival at this point would be unprecedented. This is precisely why I've been calling for Sherwood's head for several weeks. We may now have reached a point where the club feel they have to sack him, but it's almost certainly too late at this point. Dont' agree with this. Our points haul is pathetic so far this season, but we are still only 2 games adrift of 17th. I havn't checked the stats, but I would imagine that these other teams with 4 points would have been further adrift, and certainly wouldn't have a squad with the potential of ours. If we can stay within 3 wins of safety by the time we get to Watford, that then becomes a must win game under the new manager. If we win that, then hopefully we are within 2-3 wins of safety by the time we get to the Newcastle game and we have our more winnable fixtures. If we get to the turn of the year and we are still 2-3 wins from safety, then yes - I will start to think we are doomed. At this stage, there is still plenty of time.

This is true. But I suspect a new manager will either start to play someone up front who is more mobile that Gestede (Gabby or Ayew), or play one of these 2 alongside Gestede. Its almost certain we will be buying a new striker in January, regardless of who the new manager is.

A squad which contains starters such as Agbonlahor, Richardson, Lescott, Gestede and Bacuna. We don't I didn't say we have an amazing squad. I said its a half decent squad. If we get our best 11 players on the pitch in a system that actually works, we should be mid-table, safe at least.

I think you'll find you can argue with his record. His history is of bankrupting clubs and buying as many players as possible in the hope some of them work out. Over rated manager and would relegate us easily. He didn't bankrupt Spurs? He worked under Levy who hardly allows managers and free reign, and turned into a very good team. He even managed to do it when their best players were getting sold.A few years ago I never would have considered this, but I reckon he could do a job for us. I don't the board would go for him anyway. Moyes has to be first choice. Well done to him on not bankrupting Spurs. Maybe we should ask Southampton, Portsmouth and QPR fans what they think. As much as I dislike Harry Redknapp as a personality, you can't argue with his record. He has a history of putting together entertaining and effective teams. He's a realistic appointment, and would probably do a decent job. Too far north, and after the shit he always gets at VP, including having stuff thrown at him (a coin that hit the linesman a few years ago?), I can't see him taking the job. We are going off topic here - but who's responsibility is it to manage the club's finances? The manager or the board? We have been on a tight budget for years since MON because we've signed players and given them crazy contracts - is that the manager's fault or the board for allowing it to happen?

There's still plenty of time, and we actually have a half decent squad. We just need a manager who can get them organised and cut out the stupid mistakes. I suspect any new manager will move Micah Richards to right back immediately, assuming we have other centre-backs fit.

I think you'll find you can argue with his record. His history is of bankrupting clubs and buying as many players as possible in the hope some of them work out. Over rated manager and would relegate us easily. He didn't bankrupt Spurs? He worked under Levy who hardly allows managers and free reign, and turned into a very good team. He even managed to do it when their best players were getting sold. A few years ago I never would have considered this, but I reckon he could do a job for us. I don't the board would go for him anyway. Moyes has to be first choice.

As much as I dislike Harry Redknapp as a personality, you can't argue with his record. He has a history of putting together entertaining and effective teams. He's a realistic appointment, and would probably do a decent job.

Dean Saunders with Dalian Atkinson as assistant.

I don't think it was a mistake from Day 1. He kept us up when it looked like we were doomed last year. However, once things started going badly, he showed a total inability to identify the problems and sort them, and in the end he oversaw an alarming collapse in form and confidence. Sadly his reign is probably defined by the Southampton and Leicester defeats, rather than the Sunderland and Cup Semi-final victories. I personally wish him all the best and hope he gets another job quickly. He's one of the few managers I enjoy listening to because he doesn't mince his words and he's entertaining. I think he might go on to do well somewhere else, but his time was up here sadly.

Looking forward to the podcast this week now! Wrong Villac chap! Ha, I thought it was you!

All those asking for David Moyes, be prepared for boredom with a solid and unspectacular team and mid-table safety. Looks quite appealing right now! I would be amazed if Gil featured regularly under a manager such as Moyes, or Grealish for that matter. Whereas you could see Traore and Sinclair playing regularly as wide players.