Dean Smith

[bobzy]

2 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

It's 18 defeats in 2021 tbf

Pretty weird way to look at it given the optimism going into this season.  There is not a cat in hell's chance the board have looked back to March 2021 to make this decision.

[PaulC]

2 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Pretty weird way to look at it given the optimism going into this season.  There is not a cat in hell's chance the board have looked back to March 2021 to make this decision.

How much longer would you have given him if results and performances continued the way they were? 

[StefanAVFC]

4 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Pretty weird way to look at it given the optimism going into this season.  There is not a cat in hell's chance the board have looked back to March 2021 to make this decision.

Not really.

We've lost another 7 this season. I would hope that they are looking at a wider picture than the 5 losses, or the sacking is reactionary.

[bobzy]

Just now, PaulC said:

How much longer would you have given him if results and performances continued the way they were? 

Again, weird question.  I just think it deserves the time to turn it around. 

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, StefanAVFC said:

Not really.

We've lost another 7 this season. I would hope that they are looking at a wider picture than the 5 losses, or the sacking is reactionary.

Of course it's reactionary.

[Wainy316]

I think 6 defeats in a row may have been a more likely benchmark to make a change but the international break has done for him here.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Wainy316

[PaulC]

Just now, bobzy said:

Again, weird question.  I just think it deserves the time to turn it around. 

Fair enough but the club comes first so its up to the board to get the next appt right. If they get this horribly wrong and we get relegated then they will take the blame. 

[VillaJ100]

Honestly I hope Purslow job is up for review if they f up the next appointment 

[bobzy]

4 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Fair enough but the club comes first so its up to the board to get the next appt right. If they get this horribly wrong and we get relegated then they will take the blame. 

They wouldn't - it would be the next manager.

[StefanAVFC]

15 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Of course it's reactionary.

I don't think sacking a manager for losing 18 games out of 34 is reactionary.

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, StefanAVFC said:

I don't think sacking a manager for losing 18 games out of 34 is reactionary.

They haven't done that.

The board will have been entirely happy with our finish of 11th last season and entirely happy with our 3-1-2 record after 6 games this season.  There was 0 danger of Smith being sacked at this point.  5 losses in a row have lead to him being sacked.  Hell, I don't even think he'd have been sacked if we'd beaten Wolves or Southampton.  But those 5 losses?  That's done it for him.

[Okonokos]

Still so gutted about this. Every time I see a picture of him it's like seeing a picture of an ex you're nowhere near over yet.

[coda]

Of the stages of grief I'm currently on stage 2: anger.

[Pez1974]

Gutted. 
Personally, I think he should have had more time - circumstances (transfers, injuries, covid, etc) haven't helped. But he was on a tightrope due to results.

I am biased as I love the guy, but there is also an element of 'who else?' - because when Newcastle were took over, I really couldn't see an outstanding candidate to take that role - and that isn't any different for us.

 The reality is that once we stopped progressing, our next manager would have to take us to another level. That is now. This next week will define the next 10 years of our club, so I am more nervous than excited.

BUT...thank you Deano. You gave us our Villa back, and when the next history of our club is written, you should be proud to have a chapter which can only be shown as being a success. 

[StefanAVFC]

4 minutes ago, bobzy said:

They haven't done that.

I'm guessing you have a direct line to the board then?

5 minutes ago, bobzy said:

The board will have been entirely happy with our finish of 11th last season and entirely happy with our 3-1-2 record after 6 games this season.  There was 0 danger of Smith being sacked at this point.  5 losses in a row have lead to him being sacked.  Hell, I don't even think he'd have been sacked if we'd beaten Wolves or Southampton.  But those 5 losses?  That's done it for him.

I don't agree it's solely that. It's a factor of course, but on top of the unacceptable amount of losses in 2021, as well as a lack of a ability to grow a system without Jack (this goes back even further than 2021) it's pushed him over the edge.

[useless]

Purslow was openiy disappointed with the second half of last season, so it's obvious that our form this season has been seen as a continuation of that trend and why Smith has left the club. It's not just because of the five games this season, unfortunately we've been one of the worst teams in the Premier League in 2021, of the teams that were in the divison last and this season, only Burnley, Newcastle and Southampton have taken fewer points, and we've played 34 games in that time, almost a full season.

Edited November 8, 2021 by useless

[KentVillan]

10 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I don't think sacking a manager for losing 18 games out of 34 is reactionary.

Context, though. For 12 of those 34 games he was missing his key man (Grealish), and for about 10 of them he was missing at least one of the supposed Grealish replacements. And the star CM signing (Sanson) was missing for pretty much the entire period.

I know you’re not one of the doom mongers, but allow me to rant, please…

I’m so sick of people just spouting random £100m figures as somehow evidence that Smith had it all on a plate and **** up an easy gig.

It’s been a really tough year, and no, other clubs have not had the same problem, that’s BS. Basically a narrative has been allowed to develop that lacks nuance and largely isn’t true.

Even in the awful recent run of games, I’ve seen the vast majority of our players continue to fight for 90 mins.

Now there’s a lot of smug Smith Out fans who are perhaps slowly coming round to the realisation that Smith’s replacement won’t have a stellar record. That we’re targeting coaches like Hassenhutl who have survived similar terrible runs of form and turned it around.

If we were going to replace Smith, imo we should have given him the season and then pulled the trigger.

[VillaJ100]

What all your Smith high point/low point? 

High point - playoff final 

Low point - Losing to one of the worst teams in prem history who only had 10 men Sheffield 1-0 

[StefanAVFC]

5 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Context, though. For 12 of those 34 games he was missing his key man (Grealish),

This is the most damning thing.

Throughout even the highs of Smith's reign, we were consistently terrible without Jack. It's obvious that teams should struggle without their star man, but we were completely awful without him. We never developed a plan B for life without him. This is what's killed Deano. Even with him going to City, and with a arguably better squad at his disposal, we looked atrocious.

[Ingram85]

Family

Friends

AVFC

 

 

 

Everything else in life

 

 

 

 

Dean Smith.

I’m sad it didn’t turn out as we hoped but this is all getting a bit silly. We haven’t been good for a long time following on from the last third of last season. The performances are terrible, we aren’t improving. There’s barely any signs of us turning it around anytime soon. The Club is simply more important than one man. He will always be rightly welcomed back with open arms as he has given us some great memories but let’s not go overboard with the gushing. 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Ingram85