Dean Smith

[GingerCollins29]

47 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

There’s no ego’s now either. Jack was a class act but remember his reaction to being subbed off against Newcastle. No player should have a divine right to play every minute, don’t care who they are. 

Not a criticism on you, but amazing how situations can be spun toward a certain narrative.  Many posters were saying that reaction showed that jack loves playing for villa and was praised for it

[fruitvilla]

1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

I love the fact that we lost Jack, spent £100 and yet only started one new player to beat man U at old Trafford. 

I thought this was an interesting observation.

This to me implies that Dean and his team recognized quality in this team last year, whereas us in the peanut gallery are mere amateurs. Sure we recognize what the organization has done for Villa, but as group I suspect we don't have a clue when it comes to the detail that goes into the blossoming Villa organization.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Just now, GingerCollins29 said:

Not a criticism on you, but amazing how situations can be spun toward a certain narrative.  Many posters were saying that reaction showed that jack loves playing for villa and was praised for it

I agree. I personally wasn’t impressed by it but at the time Jack was the golden boy, he could do no wrong and you weren't allowed to criticise him either. I’m genuinely glad he’s gone now. 

[GingerCollins29]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I agree. I personally wasn’t impressed by it but at the time Jack was the golden boy, he could do no wrong and you weren't allowed to criticise him either. I’m genuinely glad he’s gone now. 

Yep im in the same boat. Hurt so much when he left but now i realise how much better we are for it

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

4 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Not a criticism on you, but amazing how situations can be spun toward a certain narrative.  Many posters were saying that reaction showed that jack loves playing for villa and was praised for it

 

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I agree. I personally wasn’t impressed by it but at the time Jack was the golden boy, he could do no wrong and you weren't allowed to criticise him either. I’m genuinely glad he’s gone now. 

If i'm honest, there were many things I didn't like about his attitude, especially as he grew in stature, but it was hard to bring them up as everyone was enamored.

It was kind of sad for me to watch him go from the grateful to be playing for Villa kid, to a billy big bollox, who you could tell thought he was bigger than us.

Being " rejected " stung a bit, but I always looked forward to us being a better TEAM than a one man band who believed his own hype to the point where it negatively affected the rest of our players.

[Steero113]

Thanks Dean, you’re a top bloke and an even better head coach. 

[AVFCforever1991]

His tactical flexibility has impressed me most this season, not afraid to leave our record signing out for the greater good and it's **** worked, fair play Deano, keep going m, we're all behind you...

[bcarpet]

I've just got this feeling that Deano is going to win the FA Cup for us and finally end our long wait.

[Delphinho123]

I think we’re all glossing over the main issue here..

How the hell does he fit Trezeguet into this side? 

[Villaphan04]

 

(not posting for the article, just the tweet!)

[blunther]

Imagine going back a few years and thinking we'd have a proper villa lad as manager and we'd be going out to smash teams like Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea; wouldn't win them all but we'll give as good as we got and be a proper team to fear in the premier League again. I love this man. He's my hero. 

[Dave-R]

Abit of a thing on the manchester UTD forum is:

Does anyone think that Villa play with more fluency without Grealish? It looks quicker and the passes faster

Yeah he was quite the ball hog there.

fans of other clubs are noticing were looking better without Jack and that is all down to Dean Smith an CO.

(Fairness, Smith has done a job drilling this team, especially considering he lost his talisman.)- I've never seen so much respect from man UTD fans as I'm seeing on there fan forum, it's a shocker that.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Dave-R

[Wezbid]

Can those who are always having digs here and there about anything or everything please just let the guy do his job? The speed in which the comments turn on a manager after a few results without a win is absolutely pathetic and the short-termism is beyond belief. 

We've improved season upon season since Dean has arrived, yes, he's had money to spend but you still have to deliver. Plenty of managers with bigger fan-fare and reputation have failed with bigger budgets. Since he arrived it was always about improvement, not just the players but himself too. 

He learns from his mistakes whereas plenty of top level managers are pig-headed and stick to their ways and end up just job/club hopping. Deano has improved immensely from his first day and he's also made the vast majority of players better than when they arrived (along with the other coaching staff). 

We're not always going to get the result and we will make mistakes along the way but people are now seriously talking about us as a class side. We're taking the game to title-chasing teams and this is whilst not having all our big hitters fit and ready to play together. The fact he's a Villa fan is just the icing on the cake.

Should we go through a rough patch results wise, please think long-term, I don't think I've ever been more proud of a manager and his squad in all my time supporting the club and I say this when we were winning cups and finishing highly in the league in the 90's. 

He comes across as one of the most humble, nice guys in the game whilst also being a hell of a motivator and bordering on becoming a World-class manager. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face should results not come consistently at times. 

Apologies for the long post but I needed to let it out. Our management can take us to the top level. Just acknowledge it can't come all at once.

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 minutes ago, Wezbid said:

Can those who are always having digs here and there about anything or everything please just let the guy do his job? The speed in which the comments turn on a manager after a few results without a win is absolutely pathetic and the short-termism is beyond belief. 

We've improved season upon season since Dean has arrived, yes, he's had money to spend but you still have to deliver. Plenty of managers with bigger fan-fare and reputation have failed with bigger budgets. Since he arrived it was always about improvement, not just the players but himself too. 

He learns from his mistakes whereas plenty of top level managers are pig-headed and stick to their ways and end up just job/club hopping. Deano has improved immensely from his first day and he's also made the vast majority of players better than when they arrived (along with the other coaching staff). 

We're not always going to get the result and we will make mistakes along the way but people are now seriously talking about us as a class side. We're taking the game to title-chasing teams and this is whilst not having all our big hitters fit and ready to play together. The fact he's a Villa fan is just the icing on the cake.

Should we go through a rough patch results wise, please think long-term, I don't think I've ever been more proud of a manager and his squad in all my time supporting the club and I say this when we were winning cups and finishing highly in the league in the 90's. 

He comes across as one of the most humble, nice guys in the game whilst also being a hell of a motivator and bordering on becoming a World-class manager. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face should results not come consistently at times. 

Apologies for the long post but I needed to let it out. Our management can take us to the top level. Just acknowledge it can't come all at once.

Most appreciate and acknowledge what he’s doing mate. He has to make the tough the calls and it’s not always going to work. If it did we’d be the best team in the country. 
 

He’s doing a fantastic job. Long may it continue.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[Wezbid]

4 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Most appreciate and acknowledge what he’s doing mate. He has to make the tough the calls and it’s not always going to work. If it did we’d be the best team in the country. 
 

He’s doing a fantastic job. Long may it continue.

You're right. I just have memories of pre-season and then the Watford game, the knives came out very quickly. It probably is just a vocal minority but I'm finding myself getting more defensive of DS as some can't see the massive strides we've made and continue to make.

We're probably on par or better than Everton now and they've been chucking shedloads at it for years whilst we were in the Championship. 

That first season near the end I thought he was done for as he was more stubborn in his ways then but after the initial Covid break we've never looked back and neither has he. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 minutes ago, Wezbid said:

You're right. I just have memories of pre-season and then the Watford game, the knives came out very quickly. It probably is just a vocal minority but I'm finding myself getting more defensive of DS as some can't see the massive strides we've made and continue to make.

We're probably on par or better than Everton now and they've been chucking shedloads at it for years whilst we were in the Championship. 

That first season near the end I thought he was done for as he was more stubborn in his ways then but after the initial Covid break we've never looked back and neither has he. 

I’m the same. When we smashed Everton all I could think of was how I hope this shuts the haters up.  Had to learn to stop taking the bait at times too.
 

It’s sad we have to feel that way as fans. 

[Panto_Villan]

17 minutes ago, Wezbid said:

Can those who are always having digs here and there about anything or everything please just let the guy do his job? The speed in which the comments turn on a manager after a few results without a win is absolutely pathetic and the short-termism is beyond belief. 

We've improved season upon season since Dean has arrived, yes, he's had money to spend but you still have to deliver. Plenty of managers with bigger fan-fare and reputation have failed with bigger budgets. Since he arrived it was always about improvement, not just the players but himself too. 

He learns from his mistakes whereas plenty of top level managers are pig-headed and stick to their ways and end up just job/club hopping. Deano has improved immensely from his first day and he's also made the vast majority of players better than when they arrived (along with the other coaching staff). 

We're not always going to get the result and we will make mistakes along the way but people are now seriously talking about us as a class side. We're taking the game to title-chasing teams and this is whilst not having all our big hitters fit and ready to play together. The fact he's a Villa fan is just the icing on the cake.

Should we go through a rough patch results wise, please think long-term, I don't think I've ever been more proud of a manager and his squad in all my time supporting the club and I say this when we were winning cups and finishing highly in the league in the 90's. 

He comes across as one of the most humble, nice guys in the game whilst also being a hell of a motivator and bordering on becoming a World-class manager. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face should results not come consistently at times. 

Apologies for the long post but I needed to let it out. Our management can take us to the top level. Just acknowledge it can't come all at once.

I'm a big fan of Dean but he doesn't always learn from his mistakes quickly enough. Like we very much could have done without him persisting with Ross Barkley seemingly forever last season, for example.

He's only human and he's allowed to make mistakes once in a while, of course. But he can stubbornly stick to his ways too, just like other managers.

[Dave-R]

From a man utd fan:

I think Christ is part of the Aston Villa's coaching setup.

Yes his name is Dean Smith.

[abdulaziz1]

We all like him and want success under him. Some of us had their doubts. So far he proved us wrong. We’re happy to be proved wrong. 
I don’t remember asking for him to be replaced, I just wanted some actions to be taken by him.

He’s learning as our players. My main doubt was how will he cope without Jack? Now we’re seeing what he can do. Which he didn’t show in the last 3 seasons.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

Which he didn’t show in the last 3 seasons.

Maybe he did but we didn’t see it because Jack got praise for it when it was success but Smith got the blame when it was failure, there wasn’t a little balance there.  You don’t go on runs like we have or beat Liverpool 7-2 because of one player.  Yes Jack was incredible for us and most things went through him and he was a massive catalyst for us but our bad run of form last season started before Jack got injured.  Smith is getting some of the credit now he probably also deserved from some quarters last season but back then Jack got all the plaudits.