hopeful.villan

**** it. If its McLeish then lets just get on with it and sign him up. This is a ballsy move for all concerned and will not go down well anywhere in Birmingham. It's the equivalent of going all in with a pair of 2's. **** it though, sometimes you win. UTV

Horse shit from Kendrick. Maybe he just means the bookies favourite.

Yep been bettin on Carlo over the last few days myself. He keeps going out to about 50/1 then as the managers are ruled out he slowly moves back in. Got a tenner on him at 44/1 just as the news of Rafa not coming broke. Was 9/1 on betfair when I last checked. I think we're all in for a suprise and hopefully I'm in for about 2 grand...

If it were Owen Coyle.. and I'm not opposed to that idea.. wouldn't he have had to ask boltons permission to speak to us, or wouldn't we have had to ask bolton for permission to speak to him. Same for Moyes. I was figuring that the 2 supposed interviewees were unemployed simply because there has been nothing in the papers about looking for permission to speak to managers. If it is a case that we have been talkin to these 2 then credit must go to everyone at the club for keeping it so quiet as normally these things are all over the papers. Usually leaked from the club who might be losing a manager.

It'll be much lower than that as this, and probably its replacement thread will be locked before an appointment is made. Probably right. Page one it is then.

How many pages do you think this thread will get to before we have an official announcement of a manager. We should start a pool. Im gonna go for an announcement of page 632. Anyone else got a guess?

No I'm 100% certain. I've put money on him not getting it. I think for the most part Randy has made very intelligent decisions. Its plain for anybody to see that Mclarens appointment would be met with huge opposition from fans and Randy must know that is the last thing the club needs right now.

I think it could really be anyone yet. Everyone has been quiet really. I would have expected moyes to have distanced himself from it by now but he hasnt. Lookin at the bookies lists.. and takin our criteria for proven premier league managers, match that with Randys proven ambition and willingness to spend money and there are only a few options. Hughes Moyes Benitez Ancelotti I really dont think McLaren comes under the bracket of proven. If he stayed at middlesboro much longer some1 was gonna come on and kill him... Dunno if we'll be lookin at someone like Martinez or Owen Coyle or Hughton.. Hardly proven. No I think it'll be between them 4. I would suggest that nobody has been ruled out yet despite Carlos interview and despite what hughes says about not being contacted. Id imagine the four of those have been contacted and I think Randy will move heaven and earth to get Ancelotti. Id be happy with any of those 4 to be honest.

You can get odds 33/1 @ Betfair. I cant say no to that. Hopefully they do one of them bet 20 quid and well match it for new customers. Im of to stick 40 quid on carlo. Stranger things have happened, especially at Villa.

Anyone know where you can get the best odds on Carlo... im still hopin this might come true and i know the odds are going out on him, best i can find is 14/1

Rafa could do a job with us. Id like to get someone we dont all hate though. Odds havent been changin much in the bookies today, not since the big ancelotti announcment. Have we all stopped bettin?

Wheres Deschamps agent gone? his posts were gettin as entertaining as the pirate fella. He's been quiet for a day now... maybe he's at Villa Park sortin out a deal..........!!

His sex life! Ha.. Give it time. He must be angling for a job in the media when he's done becoming our record goalscorer. That man just loves to talk. If there was no twitter or journalist I'm convinced he'd be wandering the streets of birmingham telling everyone about the goings on at bodymoor.

Darren Bent must be a journalists wet dream. Is there anything he wont talk to the papers about.

doesn't Moyes do better with limited funds. when he's had money at Everton, hasn't he spent it unwisely? i'm not sure, thats my impression. He has made some big money signings, not sure if they've been that unwise, a little uninspiring perhaps. What he does well is blood youngsters and organise his teams. I don't think he's ever had a real transfer kitty at Everton either, he's had money occasionally and he's used it to buy the type of player he felt they needed, e.g Fellaini. I think if he was given 30mil and the Villa team we have now he would do a great job with them. I don't think he's ever had the chance to overhaul his team. Kinda like doin small repairs to your car to keep it goin at the same pace and occasionally being forced to spend big on a major repair or risk scrappin it. I think at Villa he'd be able to do a full service. Does any of this make sense. Im not even sure anymore. Just get us a feckin manager before I lose my mind.

Has to be Moyes for me now. Ancelotti was a nice dream, I'm sure we gave it a good shot and I'm sure he considered it but its dead in the water now. I'm 100% sure it won't be McLaren, Randy is a smart man. Remember we were all fearing it would be Bradley last time and then Houllier got pulled out of nowhere. Think it might be the same this time. We'll be talking about candidate for the next week and then we'll get some shock decision, my gut feelin is it will be a good one though, RL didnt spunk 20 odd mil on Bent to put him in the hands of McLaren.

Its Ancelotti. I just know it. Backed him yesterday. This is still a big club with big ambitions. We showed that in January. I think we tried to show that with the signing of GH (didnt quite go to plan). Seems to me RL has settled on the type of club he wants Villa to be and I don't think its mid table. This would be the coup of all coups. I for one will be outside Villa Park if it happens.

Hard to believe Sky Sports really. Seen as they have links to sky bet all over their website it only makes sense to discount the red hot favourite hughes so we'll all run and throw our hard earned money on the second favourite Ancelotti. Only for them to tell us later that in fact they understood wrong and Mark Hughes has already signed a contract with Villa.

MARVELOUS

No problem with Bent goin off. wud have stuck gabby up there though and brought on albrighton though. Gabby gives us alot of the industry that heskey offers and he's got far more pace

Putting our performance into perspective.. its only half time, they were beating Man united and leading everton with 15 mins to go.. they may have lost a lot of recent games but they are troubling teams. Wait until full time before u put anything into perspective for us

We'll win this. Definitely gonna get 3-4 more chances in the second half, I fancy Bent to take one. Im going for 3-2 to villa in a nervy finish.

Wouldn't say no to Gabby up there, think the three man midfield is doing well though, we'll stick with one up front but need albrighton on give better service.

We've handles them well at the back apart from a ten minute spell after they scored. We do look very dangerous going forward. I'd get Marc on.. i think we need better delivery.

Friedel: 8. Solid as ever, great saves, what we expect from the big man Walker: 7. The best of the back 4 for me, got done by Berbatov once, did well though, and showed up alot in the united half Dunne: 5. Another bad day for Richard, thinks he's more suited to the backs to the wall type stuff, but he blew that with his early mistake Collins: 6. Average, nothing of note. Clark : 5 Struggled with Nani, not a left back but he tries hard Petrov: 6 Don't really know wat he did, nothing wrong and nothing right. Makoun: 9 Superb for me, linked the back 4 with every1 else, good touches, first time passes and always an option, looks a star Downing 6: Slowed everything down, didnt know whether to cut in or go on the outside, mostly did neither, got the assist which gives him a 6 Young: 6 Quite poor again, came deep to often I though, couldnt affect the play goin forward, did better when moved wide and just about earns a 6. Marc.. 5 Not the best day for the young lad, showed some flashes of what he can do but was overall very wasteful and looked clueless Bent. 7. Did what he had to do. Never really got the final ball he needed to feed of.