markavfc40

The most interesting bit of that article came at the end:

The club have also been interviewing other candidates this week, Alan Curbishley and Sven Goran Eriksson among them, but a source close to one of the managers involved expressed his concern that the process was merely a cosmetic one.

He pointed to the manner in which MacDonald let it be known he wanted the role - unlikely to have been made without feeling he had considerable support within the club given the three weeks of prevaricating which came before it - as evidence.

I agree with what that article says. Kev Mac shouldn't have applied for me as he should have no chance but the fact he has suggests he knows something others don't.

I dont see the problem with Curbishley

You should join the board then. They're as misguided as you

Employ him as a scratch card seller by all means. But lets leave him to his inevitable appointment as Fergie or Wenger's successor in the managerial stakes eh

Curbishley has Premier League Experince

This are his finsihing league positions in the Premier League

Charlton

1997/1998 - Divison 1 play off winner

1998/1999 - 18th

1999/2000 - Divison 1 Champions

2000/2001 - 9th

2001/2002 - 14th

2002/2003 - 12th

2003/2004 - 7th

2004/2005 - 11th

2005/2006 - 13th

Not bad for a side like Charlton, plus they got relegated after he left and look where they are now.

West Ham

2006/2007 - 15th

2007/2008 - 10th

He will have better players at Villa.

Its not a bad record. If we're looking at Curbs though we may as well give Peter Reid a go or maybe a Dave Jones or Mick McCarthy etc. All very much on the same level. Will do a job. Nothing inspirational about them.

We have established ourselves as a top 6 club over the last 3 seasons and it is going to take a very good manager to keep us there and an exceptional one to take us any further. Curbs and the like will take us to mid table mediocrity at best.

Kevin Mcdonald as first team manager will be one monumental mistake...aston villa football club is not a puppy for xmas.

if anyone other than an experienced man is appointed we are in trouble.... you can't listen to the players, its just pointless.

Rare I've said this about one of your posts TRO but you are spot on.

Kev Mac shouldn't even be being considered. He lacks the essential quality we need in a manager at this time - experience.

MacDonald shouldn't even be under consideration. Bottom line is that the guy is a 50 year old reserve team coach with absolutely **** all experience of being a permanent manager of a club at any level let alone one that has just finished top 6 in the Premier League 3 seasons on the bounce.

It will very likely be 4 weeks since Mon left by the time the new manager is announced. Now no disrespect to Kevin but if he is the best man our board can find in that time then god help us as our problems will run much deeper than being a couple of players short oh and of course the missing screen on the North Stand :winkold:

Well if it is to be MacDonald it really doesn't matter when they officially appoint him given that he is currently in the job anyway.

Curbishley is only 52. I thought he was a lot older than that for some reason. Must have started managing Charlton is his early 30's.

If Curbishley has indeed been interviewed and is therefore perceived good enough to be on a short list you have to wonder what calibre of manager the others on the short list are. Frightening.

Its certainly easy to get a little pissed off with how long this whole process is taking and I'm certainly guilty of that.

However I'm now starting to look at it that having taken this long you'd expect that Randy and the board would have weeded out a very good manager from all the research they've done and interviews that have been undertaken.

Should certainly be someone special given that the board have been so thorough and taken so long to make the decision therefore sacrificing any chance of making the couple of signings we so obviously needed just to stand still.

So are people accusing O'Neill of leaving purposely at a time that would hurt this club now?

Whether or not it was deliberate the result is the same. I'm guessing that from what we know about Mon's character he will be deriving a certain amount of satisfaction from the fact that Villa may struggle for a while due to the timing of his resignation.

What is it you know about O'Neill that leads you to believe he would be deriving pleasure from our current predicament?

Houllier is almost 63 and hasn't managed for over 3 years. I'm not sure he is the man we need if we are looking at a long term appointment. In the short term he could do a job and maybe at the same time have a younger assistant in place with the view to him taking over. I can't see it though.

23 days and counting. It can't be Kev Mac. We would have to have incompetent pricks running the club if after this long the best they could come up with was a reserve team coach who had never managed at any level before on a permanent basis oh and who also took 3 weeks and a chat with the girlfriend to decide if he was interested in managing one of the biggest clubs in the country.

Anyone know what kind of head coaches Randy has employed at the Browns? - has he gone for experience, up and coming, in house , big name etc.

According to a seemingly well informed article published at 20.30 on the Guardian website, Villa have a shortlist of 5 headed by KM. Apparrently RL & PF were interviewing a candidate yesterday so it is very feasible that RL's trip abroad is to do an interview.

The article is quite detailed so they definitely have an inside track - check out and tell me what you think?

Clicky

Apart from MacDonald it doesn't actually mention who else is on this five man short list and actually goes on to mention 6 other managers Hughes, Jol, Mcleish, Allardyce, Moyes and Southgate.

I'd suggest whoever wrote that article knows about as much as we do. Which is **** all.

FFS this is a thread about our new manager and the article relates to that. Some right grumpy people tonight!

Mike I wasn't having a pop at you mate just that the article headline is a little misleading in that it mentions a five man short list states its headed by MacDonald then mentions six other managers.

According to a seemingly well informed article published at 20.30 on the Guardian website, Villa have a shortlist of 5 headed by KM. Apparrently RL & PF were interviewing a candidate yesterday so it is very feasible that RL's trip abroad is to do an interview.

The article is quite detailed so they definitely have an inside track - check out and tell me what you think?

Clicky

Apart from MacDonald it doesn't actually mention who else is on this five man short list and actually goes on to mention 6 other managers Hughes, Jol, Mcleish, Allardyce, Moyes and Southgate.

I'd suggest whoever wrote that article knows about as much as we do. Which is **** all.

I'm very worried it's going to be KM now.

There's, what I can only describe as, a propaganda video on the OS now talking bout his 5 games in charge. Bizarre.

Nice how they gave all of 3 seconds mention of the defeats to Newcastle and Vienna.

I'm not sure what game the club are playing at the moment with the spin they are putting on things. Last week it as a story on the official site from a Man City player, James Milner, saying how we were in good hands under Randy.

Now we have a video highlights package of MacDonalds five games in charge which conveniently focuses on a win against a shit West Ham, a draw against Vienna and a fortunate win against Everton whilst hardly giving mention to one of the worst defeats I can remember and going out of Europe.

Given the criteria the club set out Kev Mac shouldn't even have applied. The fact he has I find very worrying.

Does anyone think the club are "using" Kevin Macdonald as a distraction to the media. Him throwing his hat in, a lot of reports saying he'll get it, bookies favourite, whilst villa quietly go about getting their man.. are they being clever?

Interesting theory Kev Mac being used as Lerners bitch.

I wish it were true but I think Kev Mac has thrown his hat in the ring as he knows he is in with a great chance.

Why the **** would the club sign a memorandum of understanding that if they backed out of would cost them millions.

Given the criteria the club have set out then I can't believe Kevin MacDonald can even be under consideration. I'm actually amazed he has even thrown his hat into the ring. Unless of course he knows something we don't.

You can't have it both ways suggesting Randy is right not to get involved in buying players whilst saying oh but its OK he had no choice but to sell our best player 10 days after the manager left.

Milner wanted to leave and there was a signed contract, signed before MON resigned, to say we'd sell him for £x in exchange for Stephen Ireland. In the absence of a clause allowing for nullifcation of that contract, there was no way of stopping the deal short of breaking Milner's leg.

Sorry but even if such a contract existed it can't have been legally binding. For starters it would be easy to null and void it by offering Ireland peanuts by way of wages, if Ireland wouldn't play ball it effectively null and voided any deal that included Ireland in the price, unless of course Citeh were prepared to pay full cash (which they seemingly weren't) secondly, if such a contract existed, how come Citeh were only given permission to talk to Milner a couple of days before the transfer (i,e, way after MON left)

All this talk of a binding contract makes no sense to me, no contract can be legally binding when it is essentially a purchase of a players registration document. If either player cannot agree terms in such a situation the deal is effectively off and there is no legal recourse as the individuals involved must have free will to agree to the transfer of their documents. You simply cannot legally trade registration documents without the agreement of the person whose registration documents they are.

I also can't get my head round how there was a signed contract before Mon left yet Milner was still allowed to play against West Ham.

I think this talk of a legally binding contract is total bollocks.

I'd suggest with no manager in place that deal should have been stopped. In fact I can't think of a better reason not to proceed with a transfer.

What if it was far enough down the line to make stopping it very difficult?

Very difficult? maybe. It would have been a big call for the chairman to make but one which, with no manager in place, should have been made. Even more so given we were also taking a player valued at 10 mill as a make weight in the deal.

I also think that anybody who expected the Chairman to sanction the spending of any money since O’Neill’s departure is equally misguided. Any prospective candidate preparing for a meeting with Randy Lerner this week would see an owner interfering in team affairs, signing players on the advice of a man tasked with keeping things “ticking over” while a permanent manager is recruited. Any prospective manager worth his salt would see that and immediately be suspicious of the man running the football club.

If the above is true I would love to know who ten days after Martin O'Neill left the club, and with no manager in place, decided to sell James Milner and buy Stephen Ireland.

That deal was already well down the road towards completion, with the full backing of O'Neill. In fact, a "memorandum of understanding" had been signed by both parties.

I'd suggest with no manager in place that deal should have been stopped. In fact I can't think of a better reason not to proceed with a transfer.

You can't have it both ways suggesting Randy is right not to get involved in buying players whilst saying oh but its OK he had no choice but to sell our best player 10 days after the manager left.

Randy is not blameless in everything that has happened over the summer. In fact he is very much the opposite.

I also think that anybody who expected the Chairman to sanction the spending of any money since O’Neill’s departure is equally misguided. Any prospective candidate preparing for a meeting with Randy Lerner this week would see an owner interfering in team affairs, signing players on the advice of a man tasked with keeping things “ticking over” while a permanent manager is recruited. Any prospective manager worth his salt would see that and immediately be suspicious of the man running the football club.

If the above is true I would love to know who ten days after Martin O'Neill left the club, and with no manager in place, decided to sell James Milner and buy Stephen Ireland.

Hi General,

How do you like new experiences?

You must be in an extremely small bracket of fans who have for the first time seen the club take a big step backwards. Like myself the vast majority of the supporters under the previous owner have seen the club get to the verge of being successful many times only to see the owner bail out when it came to investing the money required to take the final push. I have to say this time its still hurt but for you personally being a supporter for only 4 years it must be really painful. You have my sympathy.

A further question if I may which I have asked you previously.

I am fully aware that you don't get involved in transfers therefore could you please tell me, with no manager in place, who at the club made and is currently making decisions surrounding transfers and therefore decided to sell James Milner? who at the club decided to purchase Stephen Ireland? and before his departure did Martin O'Neill also want Stephen Ireland as part of the Milner transfer?

Good luck to you, Mr Lerner and Mr Faulkner in your quest for a man with the necessary qualities and experience to manage a top 6 Premier League Club. I hope to god the wait has been worth it.

Mark

I guess one of the reasons people would be dissappointed with Kev Mac is that he could have been appointted a couple of weeks ago. The players then would have known were they stood, which if the captains comments are anything to go by would have been beneficial. Also Kevin obviously has his own ideas on where the squad needs strengthening and he could posibly have made one or two additions.

The fact Kevin has taken 3 weeks to throw his hat into the ring obviously may not have hepled if he is indeed the clubs choice of manager has how can you appoint someone if they are not even sure they want the job.

I doubt very much Kevin will be the first choice of the board but due to availability of other managers he may very well be the man they choose.

I have a feeling we will go for Mcleish. Only one year left on his contract so compensation of no more than a mill, massive step up for him so he'd jump at the chance.