markavfc40

Great player for Villa, but a legend ? Maybe for Liverpool? Staunton made nearly 300 appearance for us and just over 100 for Liverpool. We easily had the best of Stan.

and id say about 5 of them games were in his natural position. The guy who bought him had no confidence to put him in centre of defence That may be so. Facts are though that Carlos was a big part of the 4th best defence in the Premier League in 2009/10. A season that was also our most successful 38 game Prem season points wise and a season in which we had two excellent cup runs. For me the defence that season was a big part of our relative success and Carlos started 48 games that season. It seems a **** lifetime ago now though unfortunately.

Fixed :winkold:

Sorry Brian but that is simply wrong. In 2009/10 he started 36 league games and started a further 12 cup games. He wasn't far off being an ever present. In his other season under O'Neill in 2008/09 he started 33 games and a further 4 as a sub.

If they aren’t idiots then at times they do a damn good impression of one. Only a moron would appoint a manager that had just relegated your nearest neighbours and done it whilst playing tripe football. Oh and pay his former employers a couple of mill for the privilege whilst giving the new manager a bumper 3 year contract.

If Mick Mcarthy is the answer then I'd hate to see the question When you say a manager to reinvigorate the club and bring back some vibrancy who did you have in mind Mr Faulkner?

I heard a rumour, and I am not ITK so take this with a pinch of salt if you want, but the person we are looking at is a man. You say that Richard but with Lerners past form I'd still need the newbie to drop his trousers to prove he'd met the criteria before being sure.

**** me you don't need to be ITK to know that McLeish wasn't first choice. Talk about stating the obvious. I got some ITK for you. The home kit next season is going to be claret and blue :!:

Look I only said what had been typed on a message board and my post said "if it's true".... why get upset with my post if everything posted on a message board is tosh? If you don't want to take any notice of any supposed ITK from Gazton, MM or anyone else...then just dont' read it. If someone has genuinely changed their mind at the last minute or AVFC have pulled out then it's no one's fault on VT We'll just all have to wait and see. I'm not blaming anyone on VT. I take everything any of the so called self proclaimed itk's say with a pinch of salt. Its the people that actually fall for what they say hook line and sinker that I feel sorry for be it on here or twitter. My opinion is that Solskjaer was never plan A. I am hoping that plan A has though come to fruition and he has got wind of it and has pulled out stating family reasons to save face.

No. Gazton asked us the question...remember? oh right must be something in it then if someone typed it on a message board.

The press conference has **** all to do with us. It is about Molde lording it that they have kept a manager that had never been offered another job. Wheres this come from that we spoke to him in March/April? not more faceless **** spouting unsubstantiated bollocks on twitter surely.

**** me that was one hand that he played almost 6 years ago. Since then certainly in terms of appointing managers its been one **** up after another. The same can also be said for the Browns.

In terms of Solskjaer it might as well be next century as be the weekend. This is dead in the water and the final act will be when Molde and Solskjaer hold there press conference this afternoon hailing him staying when the truth is I don’t believe he was ever offered the job so there was in reality no decision to be made in terms of leaving. Molde have played this well though and turned us speaking with him in to a positive for them.

I’m not so sure. I think after Mon left that it wasn’t that attractive to a lot of managers. Expectation levels were pretty high at that time and it was not going to be an easy job maintaining top 6 finishes and flirting with top 4. The club has now slipped back to a level where in Premiership terms the only was is pretty much up. A 9th/10th/11th place finish next season will be considered a good season when only two years ago it would have been seen as a failure. It is a fantastic opportunity for many a manager providing they are backed with some decent funds. It wouldn’t take much to get this club on a roll again and to get some forward momentum going and quickly turn our fortunes around. It happened under GT MK1, it happened under Big Ron and it happened under O’Neill.

There is something seriously amiss here that we have fans thinking that Lambert, Rodgers, Martinez, Adkins wouldn’t want to come to us. I am not saying they are wrong in thinking that but what has happened to our mentality that we should be thinking like that. No disrespect to the likes of Norwich, Swansea, Wigan and Southampton but when Aston Villa come calling you should be willing to walk to VP to sign on the dotted line. As stated previously if we can’t get a manager from a club like that then we are either not being ruthless enough in pursuing them or we are not doing a very good sales pitch. Regardless of the turmoil of the last couple of seasons Aston Villa is still one of the biggest clubs in this country with a fantastic history, great stadium, some of the best training facilities around and a large and passionate fan base who with the right manager and a little bit of hope will back the club. It should not be a difficult sell to the vast majority of managers for Lerner and Faulkner. If it is proving difficult then they are doing something seriously wrong.

There is something seriously amiss here that we have fans thinking that Lambert, Rodgers, Martinez, Adkins wouldn’t want to come to us. I am not saying they are wrong in thinking that but what has happened to our mentality that we should be thinking like that. No disrespect to the likes of Norwich, Swansea, Wigan and Southampton but when Aston Villa come calling you should be willing to walk to VP to sign on the dotted line. As stated previously if we can’t get a manager from a club like that then we are either not being ruthless enough in pursuing them or we are not doing a very good sales pitch. Regardless of the turmoil of the last couple of seasons Aston Villa is still one of the biggest clubs in this country with a fantastic history, great stadium, some of the best training facilities around and a large and passionate fan base who with the right manager and a little bit of hope will back the club. It should not be a difficult sell to the vast majority of managers for Lerner and Faulkner. If it is proving difficult then they are doing something seriously wrong.

Yes you don't do that and then say They are really milking this aren't they. Its been a cracking bit of publiity for Molde off the back of us and has ultimatey shown them in a good light having kept there man regardless of whether we actaully ever wanted him.

If it was a two horse race between those two then in all fairness he always was the better choice. Yes there was the excitement of the slight unknown about Ole and a 45 minute youtube video that showed him in a good light but aside from that Lambert wins hands down. What he has achieved at Norwich the last there years with in a very, very tight budget is nothing short of remarkable. Two back to back promotions and a very credible Premiership finish whilst playing a nice brand of football. At 42 he is the right age, comes across as highly ambitious with a winners mentality, gives the impression he stands no **** about and would for me instantly command the respect of the players. He would be the perfect fit for us. If we haven’t approached him then serious questions need to be asked of Lerner and Faulkner.

With Solskjaer now out of the frame it is time to move on. I don't personally think he was ever first choice and was never more than a back up and I am hoping that he was made aware that we had got our first choice and then stated family reasons for pulling out to save a little face and so he could tide things over with Molde. If that is the case then we should make an appointment in the next few days. My worry is if this drags on then it means we are again struggling to get who we want and will again end up with a second rate manager. I personally want Lambert and always have but I have a feeling it is a non starter. If we simply haven't bothered to approach him then that for me is a mistake. I still believe Aston Villa should be any easy sell to apart from the very top class managers. To a Lambert, Rodgers, Martinez etc given the clubs they currently manage when Aston Villa come calling it should simply be a case of where do I sign. If that isn't the case then Lerner/Faulkners sales pitch cannot be going down well. This next managerial appointment was always going to tell us a lot about where Randy now wants to take this club. To either stagnate around mid to lower table happy to survive or to again try to kick on and get back up amongst the top half dozen clubs in this country. There is no point crying over Solskjaer until we know who the manager is. I wouldn't write off Lerner pulling a rabbit out of the hat that we'll be happy with, can believe in and see taking us forward. I also wouldn't rule out a McCarthy, Bruce or Kev Mac. By the law of averages he is due the former. Interesting days ahead.

and we do know.

It has about as many legs as a snake mate.

Mike its easy done but I think we are starting to over scrutinise everything. A journalist throws a question at him and he says it will be discussed in what would be a scheduled press conference after training tomorrow as Molde have a game coming up. It seems a fair enough reply to me. He was also never offered the job.

It actually takes relatively little to bring someones odds down. Skybet initially went way out at 28/1 compared to the rest of the market anyway who all went out to about 8/1.

That sounds plausible, but if that is the case, why the hell didn't we offer it to him!? I'm hoping that its because Plan A has given us the nod. I don't think Solskjaer was ever anything more than a back up plan.

Suggests Solskjaer was never more than a plan B and that they have had a positive response from plan A. If we make an appointment in the next couple of days it would seem that is the case.