Dean Smith

[DCJonah]

Seeing the reactions to @Mister_aand @A'Villan on the last page is very reaffirming.

You know its just a handful of complaining people on here with an agenda, but nice to see so many positive likes to two excellent posts. 

[lexicon]

5 hours ago, A'Villan said:

I understand and even sympathise with those of us who expect the best of this club, as we have the potential and history to challenge the higher echelons of competition in England, and then by virtue we could and in my opinion probably should be challenging in Europe. Aston Villa should never be a club making up the numbers. However I'm not blindsided to the nature and ways in which football has come along over the years, and we simply did not command the revenue from TV deals and world conquest proportion fan bases won by the likes of the Red Devils under SAF, nor do we have the history of the likes of Liverpool. Chelsea and City's economic position thanks to ownership and unparalleled investment ensures that they remain among the best in the standings, even when they are far from being the finest outfit by season's end, they have enough and do enough to ensure supremacy in the main over the rest.

On another note (not directed at you @romavillan), I'd argue we haven't fallen off the pace, we haven't won back to back since December, and prior to that it was when we won the opening four. Then consider it's still possible for us to place top four, however unlikely, and that we are two wins off of European placing with 15 points to play for, I'd say we are still among it.

 In one of the most competitive and open seasons for teams to accomplish, aside from City's title being decided, the whole league is virtually up for grabs. West Ham and Leicester (yet again) have broken the ranks of the established European placing teams, and I don't see the reason or feel the need to assume it's beyond us before it is, especially considering how we've been when at our best, and where we currently stand as a consequence.

UTV!

You see, I don't. At all. 

In football, as a fan, you don't deserve anything and entitlement gets you nowhere - it only brings about discord when unrealistic expectations fail to be met. 

It's incredibly important for people to be realistic and patient, and it helps to contextualise as much as you possibly can. People might point to our trophy cabinet as evidence that we should be here or there, but it's nonsense. Look at the last 30 years - we've not been close to 'challenging in Europe' and by that, I mean having a chance of winning either of the trophies available. In that context, a great season for us is top 6. Even, then, it's largely immaterial when you look at the facts surrounding the club now - we're not even two seasons in to an almost complete rebuild having been promoted from the 2nd tier. 

Things are going absolutely brilliantly in the grand scheme of things. We're progressing in many different ways as a club, including in terms of our league position, but seemingly it's not enough for some people and I cannot fathom how their minds work. 

[MarkLillis]

On 04/05/2021 at 20:12, Vive_La_Villa said:

Rebuilds are a lot easier when you inherit the following players :

Sorensen, Barry, Laurson, Bouma, Mellberg,  Cahill,  Milner (loan) Davis, Gabby, Baros, Philips, Angel

When we got promoted Smith had Grealish and Mcginn. He had to sign a whole squad to keep us up. 

Martin O Neill the Villa myth lives on.

At the time I thought he was great now with the evidence of hindsight he was lucky to be still in a job after his “three straight top six finishes”! Villa fans of the last 10 years are far to impressed with this stat.

O Neill had inherited a good squad and was given unprecedented backing.

He failed.

Smith will not leave a legacy of failure behind him.

[tomav84]

35 minutes ago, MarkLillis said:

Martin O Neill the Villa myth lives on.

At the time I thought he was great now with the evidence of hindsight he was lucky to be still in a job after his “three straight top six finishes”! Villa fans of the last 10 years are far to impressed with this stat.

O Neill had inherited a good squad and was given unprecedented backing.

He failed.

Smith will not leave a legacy of failure behind him.

the competition was much easier back then people forget. back in 2009 city and spurs were still shit (fulham finshed above the pair of them), and leicester were still in the championship. there was nowhere near the money floating about but we had some...plenty of it...and bought shit. it's no wonder lerner wouldn't let MON have any more of it cause he would've just bought more dross. we should have broken into that top 4 with the resources we had, no question.

MON was a failure and left us worse off

[Zatman]

30 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

the competition was much easier back then people forget. back in 2009 city and spurs were still shit (fulham finshed above the pair of them), and leicester were still in the championship. there was nowhere near the money floating about but we had some...plenty of it...and bought shit. it's no wonder lerner wouldn't let MON have any more of it cause he would've just bought more dross. we should have broken into that top 4 with the resources we had, no question.

MON was a failure and left us worse off

Liverpool were declining as well and Everton were finishing over us with a much smaller budget

[HKP90]

On 04/05/2021 at 20:12, Vive_La_Villa said:

Rebuilds are a lot easier when you inherit the following players :

Sorensen, Barry, Laurson, Bouma, Mellberg,  Cahill,  Milner (loan) Davis, Gabby, Baros, Philips, Angel

When we got promoted Smith had Grealish and Mcginn. He had to sign a whole squad to keep us up. 

I’d still take in their prime Barry, Laurson, Olaf, and Milner over our current squad. And Gabby and Angel for our bench. Smith has done a good job with the players he has.

[VillanousOne]

25 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

I’d still take in their prime Barry, Laurson, Olaf, and Milner over our current squad. And Gabby and Angel for our bench. Smith has done a good job with the players he has.

His name is Laursen

[punkiller1981]

1 hour ago, tomav84 said:

the competition was much easier back then people forget. back in 2009 city and spurs were still shit (fulham finshed above the pair of them), and leicester were still in the championship. there was nowhere near the money floating about but we had some...plenty of it...and bought shit. it's no wonder lerner wouldn't let MON have any more of it cause he would've just bought more dross. we should have broken into that top 4 with the resources we had, no question.

MON was a failure and left us worse off

Couldn’t agree more about MON piss poor players on huge money ran us into the ground and blew a comfortable 4th place finish. Comparing him to what smith and his team have done is a pointless comparison in my opinion. Smith has taken a championship shambles to mid table premier league in 28 months. 

[PaulC]

I'm not one for knocking MON's achievements at Villa. The way he left was bad thats it. The season before he took over we finished 16th on 42 points. yes he had money to spend but so has Smith and he achieved regular top 6 finishes. Lets wait and see with Smith. Next  season is a big one.  

Edited May 6, 2021 by PaulC

[HKP90]

4 hours ago, VillanousOne said:

His name is Laursen

Thanks man. You are awesome. Phew!

[VillanousOne]

6 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Thanks man. You are awesome. Phew!

My name isn't Awesome, it's Steve

[a-k]

Deano calling out all the dodgy pens United have had against us recently

[useless]

Three years in the championship, should have been unthinkable, well done to Smith for getting us out of it.

[It's Your Round]

I’m excited to see what Smith can do with this team with another transfer window and another year’s experience. I’m predicting that he’ll having us playing like peak Brentford but with PL quality players and a tighter defence. It will take more time for him to get everything aligned but we know the kind of football he’s capable of producing. 

[KenjiOgiwara]

On 06/05/2021 at 18:21, PaulC said:

I'm not one for knocking MON's achievements at Villa. The way he left was bad thats it. The season before he took over we finished 16th on 42 points. yes he had money to spend but so has Smith and he achieved regular top 6 finishes. Lets wait and see with Smith. Next  season is a big one.  

Can't agree there. MON had a far far far FAR better squad coming into management here than Deano had to deal with. You were talking players like JPA, Mellberg, Laursen, Cahill, Bouma, Baros, McCann, Sørensen and technically also Petrov considering he signed before the season started. Deano got quite a different group of players. 

The league is also wildly different now in both competitiveness and money. The top 4 we tried to crash under MON, has now turned into some kind of top 8 under Deano. I'd argue a top 10 finish this year is probably like a top 6 finish back then.

[KentVillan]

On 06/05/2021 at 12:45, lexicon said:

You see, I don't. At all. 

In football, as a fan, you don't deserve anything and entitlement gets you nowhere - it only brings about discord when unrealistic expectations fail to be met. 

It's incredibly important for people to be realistic and patient, and it helps to contextualise as much as you possibly can. People might point to our trophy cabinet as evidence that we should be here or there, but it's nonsense. Look at the last 30 years - we've not been close to 'challenging in Europe' and by that, I mean having a chance of winning either of the trophies available. In that context, a great season for us is top 6. Even, then, it's largely immaterial when you look at the facts surrounding the club now - we're not even two seasons in to an almost complete rebuild having been promoted from the 2nd tier. 

Things are going absolutely brilliantly in the grand scheme of things. We're progressing in many different ways as a club, including in terms of our league position, but seemingly it's not enough for some people and I cannot fathom how their minds work. 

Yeah I agree. Football fans who flaunt their “high standards” are prats.

We as fans have almost nothing to do with the performance... you’re taking pride in someone else’s hard work and talent, so don’t give it the biggun about your exacting standards while you sit there in your elasticated pants.

The one small bit of influence we have is to not be complete words removed to our own players when they need support from the stands or on social media.

[DaveAV1]

8 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Yeah I agree. Football fans who flaunt their “high standards” are prats.

We as fans have almost nothing to do with the performance... you’re taking pride in someone else’s hard work and talent, so don’t give it the biggun about your exacting standards while you sit there in your elasticated pants.

The one small bit of influence we have is to not be complete words removed to our own players when they need support from the stands or on social media.

I gave that a like particularly for the “elasticated pants” part. Now I have an image to focus on when I read posts from certain people. I think that may be helpful in keeping me calm at times. I may even adapt them to “elasticated rubber pants” to really enforce the image, if that’s ok with you @KentVillan?

[villalad21]

Why are people attempting to downplay MON achievement? 

3 sixth place finishes in a row is an unbelievable achievement. No one can take that away from him. 

Absolutely loved those times. 

[M_Afro]

6 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Why are people attempting to downplay MON achievement? 

3 sixth place finishes in a row is an unbelievable achievement. No one can take that away from him. 

Absolutely loved those times. 

We were so badly managed through that period, at all levels of the club. MON had pretty much free reign to do what he wanted. He was awful in the transfer market. He spent massive fees and gave huge wages to bang average players with no sell on value ( there were a few exceptions). Lerner/ Faulkner had not got a clue how to run a football club and as a result let him get away with it. MON then left us on the verge of a new season with a squad past their best.

That period led directly to our subsequent downfall. MON will always be remembered by me as an arrogant, wasteful individual who was more concerned by his own ego than the welfare of our magnificent club. I was a season ticket holder through the whole of that period and it’s the only time I have ever left the match before full time. Some of the football was sterile and turgid.

That was also our best opportunity to break the top 4. I have no doubt that given the same set of circumstances Deano would have got us playing Champions League football. Our whole management structure is now light years ahead of those days. I have been harsh on Dean at times but thinking back to those days is a good perspective gauge.

[villalad21]

14 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

We were so badly managed through that period, at all levels of the club. MON had pretty much free reign to do what he wanted. He was awful in the transfer market. He spent massive fees and gave huge wages to bang average players with no sell on value ( there were a few exceptions). Lerner/ Faulkner had not got a clue how to run a football club and as a result let him get away with it. MON then left us on the verge of a new season with a squad past their best.

That period led directly to our subsequent downfall. MON will always be remembered by me as an arrogant, wasteful individual who was more concerned by his own ego than the welfare of our magnificent club. I was a season ticket holder through the whole of that period and it’s the only time I have ever left the match before full time. Some of the football was sterile and turgid.

That was also our best opportunity to break the top 4. I have no doubt that given the same set of circumstances Deano would have got us playing Champions League football. Our whole management structure is now light years ahead of those days. I have been harsh on Dean at times but thinking back to those days is a good perspective gauge.

The squad was somewhat overrated. 

We had capable players at that level much like we have now. But we really didn't have any world beaters except for maybe Ash 

When I think about it I would actually say our current squad is stronger. 

What MON did was getting the most out of his players. We were very consistent for the most part except our players burning out the last 10 games. 

Smith is way too streaky and cannot seem to find consistency. 

Edited May 8, 2021 by villalad21