The next manager of Aston Villa

[sidcow]

Why is it that every manager under the sun is actually not the key mastermind and it's always actually their assistant who is the brains of the operation? 

Even Fergie was plagued by this nonsense at one time when everyone said Steve Mclaren or Carlos Queiroz was the real brains. 

[Jareth]

Seems there was only going to be a shortlist if SG said no. Fair or not, Purslow wanted someone else in the manager's chair and Smith gave him a reason to switch it up. Happy that we are being proactive and have clearly done our groundwork on the replacement - but if anything Purslow has set the bar high from the get go - massive pressure on SG to finish top half absolute minimum.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Jareth

[KMitch]

I'm dejected.  I haven't felt this badly about a Villa managerial appointment since McLeish. So much for all the interested & high profile candidates Percy alluded to.  We sacked a fan favorite manager who hasn't let us down in 3 years at the first sign of a bad patch in form, when he hasn't even had his strongest first 11 available for him to utilize once this season.  For his replacement, we went for a manager who has only managed a football team for as long as NSWE has owned Aston Villa.  His experience is purely at a club where they spent more money than any other team in the league, and managed to beat their only competing club because they lost their manager and made a poor appointment with his replacement.  Forget all the player history/Liverpool connections.  I don't care about any of that.  I think it's equivalent to promoting someone right out of grad school to being a C-Suite executive at a huge company, purely because he's famous for doing something else and friends with the CEO.  Do I think Gerrard is an upgrade at all on Dean Smith?  Absolutely not.  I think Smith would walk the SPL with Rangers, if given the opportunity.  Do I think this appointment is a massive mistake and will cost Purslow his job within the next two years?  Yes, I do.  I'll officially be changing my avatar once Gerrard is announced, because I think Purslow has lost the plot here.  

Will I back Gerrard?  Yes, just like every other Villa manager we've had, but I'm not happy at all.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong and Gerrard ends up turning the team around and leading us into Europe, but I just can't see that happening at this time.  Gutted.  

[MaVilla]

4 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

 

ah the old Christmas tree formation, i remember Venables tried that a few times with England.

[Davkaus]

Just now, sidcow said:

Why is it that every manager under the sun is actually not the key mastermind and it's always actually their assistant who is the brains of the operation? 

Even Fergie was plagued by this nonsense at one time when everyone said Steve Mclaren or Carlos Queiroz was the real brains. 

It never seems to work the other way around for shit managers. Nobody is willing to take the blame for Tim Sherwood

[Davkaus]

2 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Gonna be a huge meltdown here if Gerrard joins but Beale stays at Rangers.

I'd be fuming, I've already got an appointment to have his face tattooed on my face.

[hippo]

1 minute ago, KMitch said:

I'm dejected.  I haven't felt this badly about a Villa managerial appointment since McLeish. So much for all the interested & high profile candidates Percy alluded to.  We sacked a fan favorite manager who hasn't let us down in 3 years at the first sign of a bad patch in form, when he hasn't even had his strongest first 11 available for him to utilize once this season.  For his replacement, we went for a manager who has only managed a football team for as long as NSWE has owned Aston Villa.  His experience is purely at a club where they spent more money than any other team in the league, and managed to beat their only competing club because they lost their manager and made a poor appointment with his replacement.  Forget all the player history/Liverpool connections.  I don't care about any of that.  I think it's equivalent to promoting someone right out of grad school to being a C-Suite executive at a huge company, purely because he's famous for doing something else and friends with the CEO.  Do I think Gerrard is an upgrade at all on Dean Smith?  Absolutely not.  I think Smith would walk the SPL with Rangers, if given the opportunity.  Do I think this appointment is a massive mistake and will cost Purslow his job within the next two years?  Yes, I do.  I'll officially be changing my avatar once Gerrard is announced, because I think Purslow has lost the plot here.  

Will I back Gerrard?  Yes, just like every other Villa manager we've had, but I'm not happy at all.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong and Gerrard ends up turning the team around and leading us into Europe, but I just can't see that happening at this time.  Gutted.  

As somebody else put it so well. We've gone for Gerrard the player. 

[est1874]

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Why is it that every manager under the sun is actually not the key mastermind and it's always actually their assistant who is the brains of the operation? 

Even Fergie was plagued by this nonsense at one time when everyone said Steve Mclaren or Carlos Queiroz was the real brains. 

Might be that it suits big name managers to propagate the myth that it's their assistant that really runs things. If things go sour they can swap out assistants while covering themselves and hope for a bounce from it.

[abdomlahor]

1 minute ago, KMitch said:

I'm dejected.  I haven't felt this badly about a Villa managerial appointment since McLeish. So much for all the interested & high profile candidates Percy alluded to.  We sacked a fan favorite manager who hasn't let us down in 3 years at the first sign of a bad patch in form, when he hasn't even had his strongest first 11 available for him to utilize once this season.  For his replacement, we went for a manager who has only managed a football team for as long as NSWE has owned Aston Villa.  His experience is purely at a club where they spent more money than any other team in the league, and managed to beat their only competing club because they lost their manager and made a poor appointment with his replacement.  Forget all the player history/Liverpool connections.  I don't care about any of that.  I think it's equivalent to promoting someone right out of grad school to being a C-Suite executive at a huge company, purely because he's famous for doing something else and friends with the CEO.  Do I think Gerrard is an upgrade at all on Dean Smith?  Absolutely not.  I think Smith would walk the SPL with Rangers, if given the opportunity.  Do I think this appointment is a massive mistake and will cost Purslow his job within the next two years?  Yes, I do.  I'll officially be changing my avatar once Gerrard is announced, because I think Purslow has lost the plot here.  

Will I back Gerrard?  Yes, just like every other Villa manager we've had, but I'm not happy at all.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong and Gerrard ends up turning the team around and leading us into Europe, but I just can't see that happening at this time.  Gutted.  

I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m gutted, but this pretty much sums up my thoughts as well. I don’t see how it can be argued that he’s an improvement on Smith.

I hope to be proven wrong.

[DaveAV1]

1 hour ago, MarkLillis said:

How can something that hasn’t actually happened be a real cock up?

There has been nothing from the club about this…..nothing.

On this thread we’ve talked ourselves into a world where Gerrard has been approached and he’s rejected us all before a single fact has been announced.

Crazy

Yeah you’re right just my AVFC paranoia kicking in. I haven’t got used to having proper owners yet. 

[AV82]

I recall similar comparisons to Smith/Frank.. no?

[NewportStu]

4 minutes ago, KMitch said:

I'm dejected.  I haven't felt this badly about a Villa managerial appointment since McLeish. So much for all the interested & high profile candidates Percy alluded to.  We sacked a fan favorite manager who hasn't let us down in 3 years at the first sign of a bad patch in form, when he hasn't even had his strongest first 11 available for him to utilize once this season.  For his replacement, we went for a manager who has only managed a football team for as long as NSWE has owned Aston Villa.  His experience is purely at a club where they spent more money than any other team in the league, and managed to beat their only competing club because they lost their manager and made a poor appointment with his replacement.  Forget all the player history/Liverpool connections.  I don't care about any of that.  I think it's equivalent to promoting someone right out of grad school to being a C-Suite executive at a huge company, purely because he's famous for doing something else and friends with the CEO.  Do I think Gerrard is an upgrade at all on Dean Smith?  Absolutely not.  I think Smith would walk the SPL with Rangers, if given the opportunity.  Do I think this appointment is a massive mistake and will cost Purslow his job within the next two years?  Yes, I do.  I'll officially be changing my avatar once Gerrard is announced, because I think Purslow has lost the plot here.  

Will I back Gerrard?  Yes, just like every other Villa manager we've had, but I'm not happy at all.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong and Gerrard ends up turning the team around and leading us into Europe, but I just can't see that happening at this time.  Gutted.  

If I could be arsed the write up a decent response, it would be along these lines. Utterly underwhelmed.

[Davkaus]

I'm still hoping this is Percy being fed bullshit, like when he was certain we were in for Abraham then Ings came out of nowhere.

Favre popping up at the back post tomorrow? I can only hope

[Sulberto21]

Me at the official Gerrard announcement -

[est1874]

5 minutes ago, hippo said:

As somebody else put it so well. We've gone for Gerrard the player. 

We haven't gone for Gerrard the player. Just as we never considered Terry the player as a serious candidate for manager. We've hired an up-and-coming manager who's already won trophies, however much people might look down on the Scottish game.

I for one will get behind him and his staff when he's here, as I have with every manager, whether I liked them personally or not. None of us can see the future, who knows where he may take us.

UTV

Edited November 9, 2021 by est1874

[Eastie]

Only one Steven Gerrard , one Steven Gerrard walking in a stevie wonderland ️️️

[IrishVilla10]

Just now, Eastie said:

Only one Steven Gerrard , one Steven Gerrard walking in a stevie wonderland ️️️

Again, having us on 

[Nigel]

My big fear of Gerrard is where is his experience in dealing with a team that hits a real bad run of results?

He has always been associated with teams near the top of the pile, and we aint that!

[Davkaus]

2 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Only one Steven Gerrard , one Steven Gerrard walking in a stevie wonderland ️️️

You're never hearing the end of this if it doesn't happen

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Well, at least we've had time to sort ourselves into camps. Imagine how annoying it would be if we had to wait and see how he performed before flinging our hot mess at one another. This way we can get straight down to business. 

Looking forward to it. 

Edited November 9, 2021 by dont_do_it_doug.