Scientific Experiment V2#12-MON(thly) Approval Ratings

[PompeyVillan]

I think MON himself will realise after this season.

If he changes, squad rotates and buys from anywhere... the world is his oyster.

I dont think he will and realise that he cannot take us further and off he pops.

If only football were as simple as this.

'Change, rotate and buy from anywhere'. Football 101.

[MR.Smalljob]

See AVFC, now it's 25, and I haven't even voted yet, would not want the reputation as him the negative, so I relax completely :-)

[Risso]

I don't like the poll question, just because I don't think O'Neill can take us forward in these next couple years doesn't also mean that's his fault and he shouldn't be manager.

We need stability at this club even if I can't see us moving forward much over the next couple years.

Well I think it IS mostly his fault, and I don't think we'll progress any further under him however long he stays, so as ever, it's ta ra O'Neill from me. What a waste of the first four years of Randy's tenure O'Neill has been.

[PompeyVillan]

... i just think under Randy we can make top 4 and build even further.

That's an unrealistic expectation.

It's a fantastic aspiration and ambition, but to expect it is unrealistic and will lead to disappointment, frustration and what I consider in my opinion a lack of perspective.

We might not be reaching the pinnacle of our aspirations at the moment, but we're certainly challenging each season.

Given the stature of our club and the nature of English football at the moment, 'to challenge' is a realistic expectation. That's not settling for second best, that's realising that in the short term, breaking the top 4 is going to be freakin' difficult.

[Awol]

Still happy with MON and will remain happy even if we a quiet transfer window. FWIW I don't think we need much more to have another good go next season. Since we got MON in we have improved every year, are challenging the bigger clubs at the right end of the league and are doing well in cups with some exciting young players. We are operating to a budget, but given what has been spent since MON arrived I think we've come to expect a bottomless pit of cash which isn't a realistic approach.

Compared to the Ellis years we've been very flush under Randy and that spend has moved us a long way. We've now reached the point where significant further improvement will be a costly business indeed and our inability to make that jump is down to economic reality not the manager. The alternative is flogging some of the crown jewels to fund strengthening the squad, not ideal but if it has to be done then so be it. Again I don't blame the manager for that, it's just the way it is - and worth remembering how bad it was not so very long ago.

Whether we spend 5 or 50 million this summer I'll still enjoy watching us play next season and that's enough for me. If we win something or qualify for the champions league then it's a big bonus, but I don't expect it and it's not a requirement to keeping me interested. I think Martin is the right man for the job and has earned our trust enough to back him for a long while yet.

[kurtsimonw]

I don't like the poll question, just because I don't think O'Neill can take us forward in these next couple years doesn't also mean that's his fault and he shouldn't be manager.

We need stability at this club even if I can't see us moving forward much over the next couple years.

Well I think it IS mostly his fault, and I don't think we'll progress any further under him however long he stays, so as ever, it's ta ra O'Neill from me. What a waste of the first four years of Randy's tenure O'Neill has been.

Since he's joined he's been given the 6th most amount of money to spend on players in the Premier League and regularly finished 6th. Exactly how is it his fault he hasn't finished higher? This is without even taking into consideration the poor squad he inherited.

Superb first 4 years. Got the club back to where it belongs, challenged for the CL a few times and back to Wembley. More MON please.

[Risso]

Let's do away with playing football matches then, and just arrange the league table according to accounting results.

He's supposed to be an excellent manager. Excellent managers are supposed to be able to achieve great things. For us, this would mean finishing top 4. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No.

Spurs haven't spent as much as Liverpool or Man City, but finished above both of them. O'Neill has also served up the dreariest excuse for football in the top 8. He's also wasted vast amounts of money on some truly hopeless players, making it almost impossible for whoever who follows him to do any better. His transfer record is little better than 50% good, 50% bad. You can't afford a stinker for every decent player you bring in.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

I don't like the poll question, just because I don't think O'Neill can take us forward in these next couple years doesn't also mean that's his fault and he shouldn't be manager.

We need stability at this club even if I can't see us moving forward much over the next couple years.

Well I think it IS mostly his fault, and I don't think we'll progress any further under him however long he stays, so as ever, it's ta ra O'Neill from me. What a waste of the first four years of Randy's tenure O'Neill has been.

Well I don't see how given the resources, he can take us forward when you look at the clubs we are competing against and the money, size of them.

You say it's a waste of 4 years but I really do doubt many if any really would of took us higher than we have been. I'd say more managers would have got us playing better football but I think we are really kidding ourselves if you believe that other managers simply would have us in the top 4 which is basically what you are saying if you believe these last 4 years have been a waste?

What I don't get is the fact people seem to believe another manager will take us forward? How will that happen? our squad, our team and our finances are worse than our competitors, as well as the fact players want to join us less than the likes of Spurs, Pool, City....

Why does everything have to be someone's fault? Why can't it be as simple as that it's about as good as it's going to get in the next couple years taking everything into consideration. What are we going to do? sack O'Neill, bring in another manager so we can finish 6th-8th every season, then sack him again, then sack the next manager etc..

What is the difference between O'Neill finishing 6th 3 seasons in a row and should be sacked and say Randy spending less each year and still being a great thing for this club?

By the way Risso, just in your opinion, do you think Everton should sack David Moyes?

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

Thing is tho Risso which you have to acknowledge that O'Neill did have to start completly from scratch unlike say Redknapp .

I mean Gabby is literally the only player in whole squad left from when he took over.

The football played should be better than it is though.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Let's do away with playing football matches then, and just arrange the league table according to accounting results.

He's supposed to be an excellent manager. Excellent managers are supposed to be able to achieve great things. For us, this would mean finishing top 4. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No.

Spurs haven't spent as much as Liverpool or Man City, but finished above both of them. O'Neill has also served up the dreariest excuse for football in the top 8. He's also wasted vast amounts of money on some truly hopeless players, making it almost impossible for whoever who follows him to do any better. His transfer record is little better than 50% good, 50% bad. You can't afford a stinker for every decent player you bring in.

Haven't Spurs spent something like £315 million gross on players in the last 4/5 years? In their squad, they have the likes of Bentley, Bassong, Woodgate, Pavlychenko, Kaboul not even playing that regularly who cost £10 million +....

Spurs have also been able to spend money on top class players throughout, when O'Neill first came, who was he supposed to sign? Yeah, I mean, Aston Villa in 16th and then 11th were a really attractive prospect for players. Do not also forget, we have to build a completly new squad. Some players were somply built to fill out the squad.

As for 50% good and bad. Well, possibly player wise but say we've spent £130 million on players, I'd say £90-100 million has been well spent, but also you have to take into account that not all players were bought to set the place a light.

[Risso]

I don't like the poll question, just because I don't think O'Neill can take us forward in these next couple years doesn't also mean that's his fault and he shouldn't be manager.

We need stability at this club even if I can't see us moving forward much over the next couple years.

Well I think it IS mostly his fault, and I don't think we'll progress any further under him however long he stays, so as ever, it's ta ra O'Neill from me. What a waste of the first four years of Randy's tenure O'Neill has been.

Well I don't see how given the resources, he can take us forward when you look at the clubs we are competing against and the money, size of them.

You say it's a waste of 4 years but I really do doubt many if any really would of took us higher than we have been. I'd say more managers would have got us playing better football but I think we are really kidding ourselves if you believe that other managers simply would have us in the top 4 which is basically what you are saying if you believe these last 4 years have been a waste?

What I don't get is the fact people seem to believe another manager will take us forward? How will that happen? our squad, our team and our finances are worse than our competitors, as well as the fact players want to join us less than the likes of Spurs, Pool, City....

Why does everything have to be someone's fault? Why can't it be as simple as that it's about as good as it's going to get in the next couple years taking everything into consideration. What are we going to do? sack O'Neill, bring in another manager so we can finish 6th-8th every season, then sack him again, then sack the next manager etc..

What is the difference between O'Neill finishing 6th 3 seasons in a row and should be sacked and say Randy spending less each year and still being a great thing for this club?

By the way Risso, just in your opinion, do you think Everton should sack David Moyes?

Spurs have shown what can be achieved by giving a good manager decent resources. Redknapp has got them playing excellent football, and he has finished top 4, ahead of Man City and Liverpool, both who have spent more money than Spurs. Bearing in mind he's only had one full season in charge, having taken over when they were threatened by relegation, and what he has achieved is astonishing. By comparison, O'Neill just isn't a good enough coach, he's not in the same class.

As for Everton, given that they are skint and that Moyes hasn't bought a bad player in years, I think he's performing to their maximum expectations. Seeing as he's finished 5th twice in the last three years, gets Everton playing better football than us, and does better in the transfer market than O'Neill, I think they'd be mad to sack him.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

As for Everton, given that they are skint and that Moyes hasn't bought a bad player in years, I think he's performing to their maximum expectations. Seeing as he's finished 5th twice in the last three years, gets Everton playing better football than us, and does better in the transfer market than O'Neill, I think they'd be mad to sack him.

Surely we are performing to maximum expectations though? Unless you are very unrealistic?

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

Seriously how can you compare Redknapp taking over Spurs to O'Neill taking over Villa??

Again - Gabby is the ONLY player left from when O'Neill took over. Spurs had tons of very good players who flirted with top 4 for years and had just massively underperformed under Ramos

[PompeyVillan]

Let's do away with playing football matches then, and just arrange the league table according to accounting results...Spurs haven't spent as much as Liverpool or Man City, but finished above both of them.

Redknapp did a great job last season, but let's not kid ourselves Spurs had a much better squad than us last season and have been operating on a different financial basis for a while.

We're not on a level with Spurs and Man City financially. That's a cold, hard fact unfortunately. That's not anybody's fault, but neither should it be used as a stick to beat O'Neill with.

We're more comparable with Everton. It's a realistic comparison and one that paints us favourably, but one that doesn't suit because we want to be competing higher than Everton.

O'Neill has also served up the dreariest excuse for football in the top 8. He's also wasted vast amounts of money on some truly hopeless players, making it almost impossible for whoever who follows him to do any better. His transfer record is little better than 50% good, 50% bad. You can't afford a stinker for every decent player you bring in.

This is all terribly subjective and does not constitute a good reason to sack the manager.

First things last...

He's supposed to be an excellent manager. Excellent managers are supposed to be able to achieve great things. For us, this would mean finishing top 4. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No.

He's a good manager and he's performing as a good manager should.

An excellent manager may be able to take us from where we are into the top four within a few seasons, however, how many truly excellent managers are out there at the moment, and how many of them would be interested in being Villa manager?

Essentially you're saying MON is not massively exceeding expectation at Villa, and therefore should be sacked. You're then making a huge gamble in expecting someone of a similar, if not higher calibre to come in and work miracles and get us into the top 4. What if they don't succeed in 3 seasons...?

[Risso]

O'Neill has had FOUR YEARS. Are we still going to be excusing his fuckawful football in 2015 because he inherited Liam Ridgewell a long time ago?

[Risso]

We're not on a level with Spurs and Man City financially. That's a cold, hard fact unfortunately. That's not anybody's fault, but neither should it be used as a stick to beat O'Neill with.

We pay higher wages than Spurs. That's a cold hard fact as well. (And one that the more observant amongst you may have noticed that I've mentioned once or twice before....)

[avfc89]

As for Everton, given that they are skint and that Moyes hasn't bought a bad player in years, I think he's performing to their maximum expectations. Seeing as he's finished 5th twice in the last three years, gets Everton playing better football than us, and does better in the transfer market than O'Neill, I think they'd be mad to sack him.

Surely we are performing to maximum expectations though? Unless you are very unrealistic?

No, we are performing to a decent standard.

[PompeyVillan]

We're not on a level with Spurs and Man City financially. That's a cold, hard fact unfortunately. That's not anybody's fault, but neither should it be used as a stick to beat O'Neill with.

We pay higher wages than Spurs. That's a cold hard fact as well. (And one that the more observant amongst you may have noticed that I've mentioned once or twice before....)

MON's not faultless, I think its ridiculous that somehow we've managed to hike the wage bill up to such levels. Equally you have to credit Levy for being such a shrewd operator. I think this is also an indication that it's easier to convince good players to play for Spurs than it is Villa, and there are many factors to this (not that this is the right place to go into them).

At the same time... is MON the finance guy, or the manager? The finances are not MON's sole responsibility.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

O'Neill has had FOUR YEARS. Are we still going to be excusing his fuckawful football in 2015 because he inherited Liam Ridgewell a long time ago?

4 years? He inherited a squad of which only one remains.

4 years ago, we had just finished 16th. That means the calibre of player we could go for then would also not be sufficient for when we finished higher. We also finished 11th in his first season, again finishing 11th isn't going to attract players who are good enough to finish in the top 4.

Once we finished top 6, we then had to sell players who were good enough for us at one point when we were competing lower in the table and buy better players who could try to move us forward.

We do not pay stupidly high wages nor are the most attractive prospect in the league so our buys mostly have to be the best players from teams lower than us.

If O'Neill came to the club and we had finished 6th the season before and we had a good squad. Okay fine, but he hasn't. It's not just one rebuilding process, it's many. One after another as the club has also moved forward.

For example, Man City in recent years have bought Bellamy, Bridge, Barry, Lescott, Given, Santa Cruz. Players who can take them around the top 4. Once they are in the top 4, then they will once again need to buy better players to replace those in order to match the clubs ambitions.

[Chindie]

No good cause to warrant sacking him imo. So 'Yes'.