Dean Smith

[GingerCollins29]

As a whole, fantastic season. Smith has done wonders with the squad we have and picked up some memorable results which will go down in history as some of our finest moments. If we can break that 50 pt barrier and even finish top half it would be sensational.

Some stand out individual performances show smith and co can help players progress into top PL footballers (targett, konsa) whilst also showing our recruitment has been excellent (emi, cash).

Delighted. 

Do i want smith out? Not a chance.

Is he immune from criticism? No. There are flaws which he is working on. He can be tactically naive in some games, his use of subs is sometimes questionable and in some games he has struggled without jack. It is improving though. 

I hope dean stays for a long time and continues to push us on

 

 

[thabucks]

I’m critical of Smith on occasion and can see merit in replacing him this summer. That said I’ll also be v.happy if he stays and believe he has done a great job thus far . there is this thing called middle ground - the grey area between black and white. Criticisms of Smith are valid as is the high praise.
 

Sentimentality plays no part for me nowadays, after 30 plus years of supporting the Villa I just want what’s best and if that’s a new manager who isn’t Smith then I’m totally cool with that - will be forever grateful to the man but will move on. 

[foreveryoung]

Just now, avfcDJ said:

Ive been critical of Smith, doesn’t mean I want him out. 

Yes can we just clarify, no F**** wants Smith out!!!!

I have been told I'm in a gang, a troll (even though I have over 8000 posts), a complainer, it's bullshit. Some fans are critical of the manager that should be fine, he's doing a good job, but we have good players and one of the best in the league, an he's not perfect, no manger is. There's even fans, commentators critical of Pep how he risks too much in the Champions League. I'm just not getting carried away, it's not a big issue, l never thought he would be our future, but I'm more than happy to be proved wrong.

In reality all I have been critical of is the poor run of form with Grealish out the team, like last season, yes we are higher in the league than we have been for years, but if not for the poor run we could have been higher, is that a unfair opinion the have, I want the best for the club like many. Lets just start letting people have there say without disrespecting our fellow fans. unless it's obvious they want Smith out and they are saying he is crap, no one should be so defensive.

[Indigo]

I for one would absolutely love to read another week of VT's petty arguments about nothing in particular. 

[Mazrim]

The way I see it is: there's nothing wrong with criticism as long as its balanced. We've been mostly good or very good this season, with flat periods where we've lacked some gusto.

So I'd expect the comments to reflect that. It's not perfect, but the journey from near disaster to the fringe of the elite, when looked through a wide lens, is quite amazing.

If you see mostly negative comments, it's not right. Likewise, when everything is positive, that's not true either. But when you think about where we are as a club right now, it's fair to say many fans turn a blind eye to the rough edges and don't want to hear it. But debate is good.

[thabucks]

I wonder what the reaction will be from some posters towards NSWE & Co if Smith is replaced this summer ... Will the same level of criticisms be levelled at the board as is towards posters on here who dare question Smiths position?

[lexicon]

12 minutes ago, Indigo said:

I for one would absolutely love to read another week of VT's petty arguments about nothing in particular. 

Quite. Can't tell if it's boredom due the lockdown or retirement, or just moaning, or a combination. Absolutely exhausting in any case. 

[BG_Villa_Fan]

14 minutes ago, thabucks said:

I wonder what the reaction will be from some posters towards NSWE & Co if Smith is replaced this summer ... Will the same level of criticisms be levelled at the board as is towards posters on here who dare question Smiths position?

Yes.

[Adam2003]

10 minutes ago, thabucks said:

I wonder what the reaction will be from some posters towards NSWE & Co if Smith is replaced this summer ... Will the same level of criticisms be levelled at the board as is towards posters on here who dare question Smiths position?

I doubt it has even crossed their minds. Zero percent chance it happens this summer. They’ll be delighted with the move from fighting relegation to mid-table comfort.

Down the line of course if Smith fails to deliver continued improvement I am sure they will make changes but he’s been arguably the most successful manager in the league over the last 2.5 years - from 13th in the Champ to comfortably established in the Prem, a cup final thrown in last year. No room for sentimentality but they will keep him because the club has achieved its targets again.

This is all a conversation for a year from now I reckon if we have failed to kick on.

[Dodgyknees]

38 minutes ago, Mazrim said:

The way I see it is: there's nothing wrong with criticism as long as its balanced. We've been mostly good or very good this season, with flat periods where we've lacked some gusto.

So I'd expect the comments to reflect that. It's not perfect, but the journey from near disaster to the fringe of the elite, when looked through a wide lens, is quite amazing.

If you see mostly negative comments, it's not right. Likewise, when everything is positive, that's not true either. But when you think about where we are as a club right now, it's fair to say many fans turn a blind eye to the rough edges and don't want to hear it. But debate is good.

This 

[Phil Silvers]

Are we on an upward trajectory.. yes

Are we ahead of NWSE expectations.. most likely 

Are NWSE ruthless.. unknown really, we only have Jesus Pitarch to go on

Will they make a change.. I'd say they'll give Dean another crack at it and if we add in the right areas we can make more progress, however, the realistic target next year has to be top 6.

If we do not finish top 6 next year then I'd expect changes, but for now it would be crazy to flip for another manger unless it was someone with genuine top level talent and multi years champs league experience. 

Who though.

 

[Adam2003]

10 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

however, the realistic target next year has to be top 6.

If we do not finish top 6 next year then I'd expect changes

I agree with you it’s the target but Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal are also all outside the top six and will be saying the same thing. Like it or not we are still playing catch-up on a few years advantage for them. There’s no room for failure or poor runs if you want to hit the top 6 - it is the highest level we have hit in 30-odd years - so it should be the target but if Pep came in tomorrow it would still be a big challenge.

Let’s hope we get the squad additions to give it a good go though!

[lexicon]

15 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Are we on an upward trajectory.. yes

Are we ahead of NWSE expectations.. most likely 

Are NWSE ruthless.. unknown really, we only have Jesus Pitarch to go on

Will they make a change.. I'd say they'll give Dean another crack at it and if we add in the right areas we can make more progress, however, the realistic target next year has to be top 6.

If we do not finish top 6 next year then I'd expect changes, but for now it would be crazy to flip for another manger unless it was someone with genuine top level talent and multi years champs league experience. 

Who though.

 

I wouldn't. That's an unreasonable expectation for where we are as a squad and club right now IMO. 

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

Yes can we just clarify, no F**** wants Smith out!!!!

From the WBA match thread (apologies, unable to quote from there properly) -

 

“I hope Edens & Sawaris have got a shortlist of top quality managers waiting for interview.”

“He can learn his trade at Walsall. At Brentford. At Villa we need a top manager that can take us to the next level.”

“Smith needs to go. Stubborn Bruce V2”

“Replacing Smith would be my first move if I were NSWE.  I can't see any signs that he is learning, and have no confidence he can take us where we want to go”

“I just think Smith is out of his depth for where we want to go as a club. They should be keeping their eye out on possible available managers this summer imo - if there's a better candidate go for it.”

“The sooner Smith is out of this club the better!”

“The longer this goes on the more I think Smith has to go.”

“Still wanna defend smith after this?”

I believe each of those posts were from a separate poster, so 8 posts, 8 different members. That’s from one game, took me about 5 minutes to compile that. If I felt inclined I reckon I could find a lot more voices from other matches.

Now, I don’t think that you yourself have ever said you want Smith gone, but to suggest there isn’t a ready in waiting collective that are prepared to jump in and call for his head is completely wrong as demonstrated, because I don’t believe the above posts are of a “questioning the manager” nature. They are “he’s not the manager for us, he needs to go” in tone.

[lexicon]

6 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

From the WBA match thread (apologies, unable to quote from there properly) -

 

“I hope Edens & Sawaris have got a shortlist of top quality managers waiting for interview.”

“He can learn his trade at Walsall. At Brentford. At Villa we need a top manager that can take us to the next level.”

“Smith needs to go. Stubborn Bruce V2”

“Replacing Smith would be my first move if I were NSWE.  I can't see any signs that he is learning, and have no confidence he can take us where we want to go”

“I just think Smith is out of his depth for where we want to go as a club. They should be keeping their eye out on possible available managers this summer imo - if there's a better candidate go for it.”

“The sooner Smith is out of this club the better!”

“The longer this goes on the more I think Smith has to go.”

“Still wanna defend smith after this?”

I believe each of those posts were from a separate poster, so 8 posts, 8 different members. That’s from one game, took me about 5 minutes to compile that. If I felt inclined I reckon I could find a lot more voices from other matches.

Now, I don’t think that you yourself have ever said you want Smith gone, but to suggest there isn’t a ready in waiting collective that are prepared to jump in and call for his head is completely wrong as demonstrated, because I don’t believe the above posts are of a “questioning the manager” nature. They are “he’s not the manager for us, he needs to go” in tone.

It's embarrassing, isn't it? 

 

[MotoMkali]

1 hour ago, Mjvilla said:

It's a fair point, but the performance was very good and a few commented in the match thread that they were satisfied. Before we had scored the winner. 

On a similar note, if you flipped our season around and we were poor to begin with but excellent in recent weeks, would the frustration be there with Smith? 

I think yes. Because Smith is the manager and when we play nice football we are really good but we don't play nice football most of the time and I feel that is due to the way we setup. 

[Don_Simon]

I think Deano will be the next one for a new contract. He's hit every single target set in his time at Villa so far. If we're rewarding excellence, he'll be next to be rewarded.

[MotoMkali]

22 minutes ago, lexicon said:

It's embarrassing, isn't it? 

 

No. I like Smith. But the fact is his lack of willingness to be proactive in matches has cost us a lot of points. Ideally he continues to improve so we don't have to replace him but I imagine the start of next season will decide his fate.

He is deeply flawed as a manager and to not acknowledge that is ridiculous. 

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, thabucks said:

I wonder what the reaction will be from some posters towards NSWE & Co if Smith is replaced this summer ... Will the same level of criticisms be levelled at the board as is towards posters on here who dare question Smiths position?

It depends who comes in, look at how Newcastle fans have reacted to Ashley for the last 15 years since they sacked Keegan. If we sacked Smith and brought in Gerrard would be a lot of anger towards the board

[KentVillan]

1 hour ago, thabucks said:

I wonder what the reaction will be from some posters towards NSWE & Co if Smith is replaced this summer ... Will the same level of criticisms be levelled at the board as is towards posters on here who dare question Smiths position?

Yes

I love the paranoia from people who can’t handle their opinions about Smith being challenged, and start moaning about being “silenced” or whatever.

Smith has improved us season on season for 3 years now. Would be unhinged to roll the dice now when things continue to move in the right direction, and he seems to have the dressing room on side, including fringe players.

Edited May 3, 2021 by KentVillan