rjenkins

Are you sure that is the full list? What about the players signed by Portsmouth in 2001 when he was just a DOF? I remember a Japanese goalkeeper who conceded five goals in his debut, or something like that?

Mark I think you are about to become disappointed You seem happy enough if this is to be the case Mike. What has led you to believe this can be successful as no other club in the Premiership uses this structure and those that have tried have found that its gone tits up very quickly. I may be wrong, but didn't Chelsea have a DOF when Mourinho was in charge? Isn't that the reason he left? Kind of, I think that was when Grant was there. When Arnesen was DOF for the first few years I think he was fine with it.

Mark I think you are about to become disappointed You seem happy enough if this is to be the case Mike. What has led you to believe this can be successful as no other club in the Premiership uses this structure and those that have tried have found that its gone tits up very quickly. I may be wrong, but didn't Chelsea have a DOF when Mourinho was in charge?

Well, apart from the headline from The Sun claiming that Sven is out of the running, there's nothing in the papers that they couldn't have taken from VillaTalk, and there's nothing to say that an hunches we have here are anywhere near accurate.

Works on the continent, and did at Chelsea. I think Newcastle's problem was that the person dictating transfer policy was Dennis Wise.

I think when you lay out someone's entire managerial history like has been done with Curbishley, Schuster and Houllier on this thread, it really would take a very exceptional manager to sound good. Petty much every manager has failed somewhere along the line. I'd be happy with the appointment of Houllier or Curbishley, and would support anyone the board picked after conducting interviews for the job. The only things that worry me about Houllier are his health and his age. Plus, I think he'd be after a 'Director of Football' role, leaving KMac as first team coach. I think I'd rather either a manager, or for the board to appoint both parts of that Coach + DOF team, rather than hope that KMac and Houllier get along.

Thanks for this, very interesting view given his relationship with the club.

My ratings of the players today: Brad Friedel - 1 Could have done better with at least two Newcastle goals, and is weak at dealing with crosses and corners, because he simply isn't fast enough to feel confident that he can come out and claim the ball. If a team is allowed to pressure him, his age shows. Luke Young - 2 I am actually going to disagree with a number of boarders today who thought Young was better than Warnock today. He had a lot to do given the amount of times Albrighton lost the ball, but Jonas made a fool of him all game. Stephen Warnock - 3 I think Warnock is tied with Dunne as being our 'best' defender out there today. He wasn't great, and he was caught out of position a number of times, but I thought he genuinely looked committed and came up with a number of decent interceptions. Routledge was not as good as Jonas, but still, I think if Jonas had been attacking Warnock today, he would have had less joy. Richard Dunne - 3 Poor yes, but considering he was having to carry Clark as well as carrying out his own duties, I'm not sure we could ever have expected much better. Got taught a lesson by Carroll today, but I think many centre-halfs will suffer a similar fate this season Ciaran Clark - 2 Tried hard, but was out of his depth. Why did he start ahead of Davies or Beye, who for all their faults are more experienced? Marc Albrighton - 2 Tried too hard and was naive. In flashes he showed why he should not be dropped though, as there is no way Downing is better Stewart Downing - 1 I don't know what he actually offers the team. He just doesn't seem to have any drive. I don't see how he can be a First XI player for us this season. Stephen Ireland - 5 Had a very tough introduction to life at the Villa. Was compromised all game by being in a two-man centre midfield with Petrov, but when he could run forward into space, did enough to convince me that if we sort out our midfield around him, he could create goals for us. Stilyian Petrov - 1 Our weak link in midfield. When you can make Kevin Nolan and Alan Smith look like speed demons, then you know you've had a bad game. Looked knackered even though he didn't travel to Vienna. Ashley Young - 5 Never stopped trying even when most of the others had given up. Maybe made a few wrong decisions, but he was carrying the team for most of the match. Thank Christ we've still got him. John Carew - 0 The penalty miss would have effected him undoubtedly, but it's no excuse for his woeful performance. He made Heskey look very decent by comparison. I think he will struggle to fit into the new style of play we are attempting at Villa now.

I personally think the team will be something like: -------------------------Guzan------------------------- ----Beye------Davies----------Clark----Warnock--- -----------Reo-Coker---------Osbourne-------------- Albrighton------------Bannan---------------Downing ------------------------Heskey-------------------------

Experience is important I agree, but it isn't impossible to get a manager in his late forties or early fifties who would also have a great deal of managerial experience.

I agree that we really should be looking for a manager with some worthwhile club management experience rather than just good performance in a national team job. Even so I'm struggling to come up with a shortlist of potential candidates who really excite me. Hitzfeld has undeniable ability, but he is 61. I'd rather we went for someone younger, who could realistically give Villa five to ten years if things work out well.

Apparently there's a managerial vacancy at DC United. He could just as easily be after that job as the Aston Villa post.

http://www.socceramerica.com/article/39266/is-bob-bradley-already-a-lame-duck.html Read this article on Bradley last night, and I wouldn't be so sure that Bradley's resignation has a great deal to do with the job at Villa. Apparently there was already a groundswell of opinion that someone different was needed in charge of the USA who would give more young players a chance and who would move America away from 'European tactics'. This is not to say that Bradley won't apply for the Villa job, and to be honest I find those criticisms very harsh on Bradley, especially after the Confederations Cup, but when Randy says he won't even have a shortlist until Monday I believe him.

Not especially to be honest. For what the likes of Deschamps, Magrath or Ranieri would cost in wages and compensation we may as well go for Frank Rijkaard.

Possibly I suppose, he got Blackpool promoted to the Championship and did a lot of the groundwork which Holloway benefited from, and he seems to have done well at Leeds. I don't know though. I think he doesn't have enough experience for a job as big as Villa manager.

I think Nigel Clough has been pretty average at Derby to be honest. Billy Davies seems to do well wherever he goes though, but I think he doesn't have the sort of personality that Lerner will be after now. I think he would be very similar to MON.

Now don't laugh, but I've spent the last three years at Cardiff University and I've seen a few Cardiff games, and actually Dave Jones isn't that bad. Cardiff play a short, on-the-floor passing game and his record of signings under difficult financial considerations has been very good. Chopra, Bothroyd, McCormack, Whittingham, Burke, McNaughton and McPhail come to mind especially. Obviously we wouldn't be after any of those players, but the point is that on a limited budget he picks good players in relation to his demands. We could do a lot worse.

Just reading up on Ralf Rangnick after the Newsnow link, and it seems he's had a patchy career. He's done well at Hoffenheim and has won a few lower league championships, but my understanding is that Hoffenheim are very well funded and he's been sacked from both the big jobs he's held (at Stuttgart and Shalke) within a couple of seasons.

He's certainly done well with the reserves, but I can't think of too many success stories when clubs have internally promoted a member of the coaching staff to management.

Frank Rijkaard is the dream pick, although I'd expect that he would feel as though he should be going for jobs with clubs of a higher stature than us. I have no idea how much he would cost in wages either, although if we are going to pay a manager big money I'd rather give it to Rijkaard than Eriksson or even Jol.

A really excellent post. I'm not sure what to add to that really except that I think you have it spot on. I just hope beyond hope that Villa can sustain itself in the long term.

This

If a basic home or away shirt is £45, plus a P+P fee or with numbers, lettering and those Premier League badges say between £50-£60, then you think the club only sells 10,000 shirts. This seems a little low to me, especially when you consider the club shop and the online shop. Plus, many people buy both versions of the kit, not to mention shorts and socks or other merchandise. I'd be very surprised if the club sell anything under £2m worth from shirt sales and associated products. Admittedly this isn't a huge amount in football terms, but it is considerable.

Pretty please

I think that an outright ban is unnecessary. I think people might bring them to a couple of games at the start of the season but it's just a fad that will die away in my opinion.