Well, we all knew it was coming, didn’t we? and it was only a matter of when.
Apparently Nas Sawaris was fuming when Luiz got his red card and stormed out of the directors box, with Purslow in hot pursuit. Well, I might have made the last bit up, but I just have this mental picture of Waylon Smithers fawning around Mr Burns from the Simpsons.
Whatever, somebody hasn’t messed about and to be honest I’m very surprised it’s happened so quickly after the game.
Where does this leave Purslow, I wonder?
No doubt Gerrard will walk away with a big fat payoff, which is a bit of a coincidence as I was just reading about how Liz Truss will get a lifelong yearly payment of £115,000 and a pension of up to 10% after being in power for 44 days.
How can such absolute failure justify such crazy amounts of money? You couldn’t make it up.
But it is what it is.
And so I find myself wondering who’s going to be next to manage our glorious club?
Did Sawaris have a rush of blood in sacking Gerrard, or are the stories regarding the club sounding out managers already, actually true.
I really hope it’s the latter and we have someone coming in promptly.
The thought of McAllister being a temporary coach isn’t something I want to see because I’ve never rated him ever since he was Houlliers frontman.
And then there’s the matter of the myriad of coaches that we seem to have built up. Do any of those deserve to stay?
My money says we need a total clearout, including Purslow too, because things plainly aren’t working.
There’s a pall over Aston Villa now and I genuinely wonder if changing the manager and maybe another one or two coaches would be enough to remove it.
And then, we need a renewed aim of where we want to be, to try and kickstart that feelgood factor that existed not so long ago.
But at the same time I worry about what if this next manager can’t get it right either?
Where would that leave us as a club? Would our owners continue pouring money in?
You’d have to expect that even they would have enough.
But that’s for the future.
So, basically, I’m happy, but worried at the same time .
UTV!
Bloody hell.
First discovery. He’s a nose!
Danks out!
And I’m not joking.
I can’t be doing with these partisan employees, especially when they’re noses.
Gerrard’s strong Pool allegiance was bad enough.
Seconded. Yikes!!!!
No Noses!!!
Here’s all I could find.
https://playerdevelopmentproject.com/masterclass-discussions-the-specialist-coach-a-conversation-with-aaron-danks/
Apparently PSG in for Amorim. If any league resembles the Scottish League it’s the French. Same in Germany really. Year after year of a one horse race. At least the Jocks have two!
They can have him for me.
EDIT;
But having said that, I’d be willing to bet we would outbid anyone if we really want him and money is what will decide.
It’s all quite obscene and if it takes oodles of money to get him in, I’d really rather not have him.
Hmm, so Danks did a lot of youth coaching, then two months at Anderlecht before coming to the Villa, as an assistant.
This smells remarkably like the FA route that has led us to Southgate being in charge of England (Ie, utter crap).
And then;
“Danks began his coaching career as a youth coach for the club he supported, Birmingham City F.C”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Danks
Call me blinkered if you like, but I’m surprised this is the route we’ve taken.
At a time when we need to dig in and consolidate, the last thing we need is a nose having anything to do with the Villa, imo.
At least it’s only temporary, so maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, which is always possible 🙂
I really couldn’t give a stuff about who Danks supported, or where he worked. He’s in temporary charge, nobody expects him to achieve anything in the couple of weeks he might be in charge of the 1st team.
Far more concerned about who the ‘permanent’ appointment will be!
Fair enough, Ardent.
Although I’d like to think he might win a game, while not exactly expecting.
I think I’m right to be concerned, as in the headline post.
I really don’t trust Purslow or even Lange to get it right.
Whilst agreeing with you I think it’s fair to say that many rated managers come into teams in the Prem and are a disaster. Also, some less touted managers come in and do well. Who would you pick? It would seem it needs to be someone proven who doesn’t want a lot of money to come here🤷♂️. Where on earth would you start?
I literally have no idea
I have no idea either DS.
But (and I know it’s easy to say) I’m not paid in spades to make the decision.
All I know is I wouldn’t want us to pay millions in compo for a manager in the Portugese league.
We chose no prem experience twice and it hasn’t worked.
Go again for a third time?
I’m not convinced.
But this is why I’m concerned.
There is no standout candidate and it’s yet another gamble, by the looks of it.
That’s my take too.
Just trying to point out it is a tough (and crucial) decision that most of us fans would disagree about.
“After the game, Beale was asked if he would be interested in taking over at Villa. He told talkSPORT: “No chance. Great club, great history, great people, good people behind the scenes.
“They’ve had two outstanding managers in the last two years and for whatever reason it hasn’t worked out so they may have to look at the way the club is run or the model. Is the recruitment all in line? There’s a lot of good people behind the scenes that have got a lot of despair at the moment.
“I feel for the fans because it’s a wonderful football club, but no, I gave my commitment here the other day. There’s certainly no interest on my part. A few of my friends have lost their jobs in the last few days.””
The last sentence says it all, imo.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/michael-beale-gives-scathing-aston-25332213
Will not just one pro look at things with a neutral pov and say he was rubbish?
Apparently not and it just insults us fans by insinuating that we don’t know what we’re talking about.
I prefer to go with the 10s of thousands of fans opinions.
Actually, after re-reading it, this is the main part for me;
” Is the recruitment all in line?”
Who is that aimed at?
The owners re managers, or Lange re players?
I suspect the latter, particularly if it’s true that Gerrard wanted Tarkowski, but was overruled.
Yes, I read Beale’s comments on B’ham Live too. And noted the same line you quoted above.
My guess it was aimed at Lange. Having said which, IMO, Carlos was a much better buy than Tarkowski (and either one could have picked-up the early injury).
Funny how a dozen decent results in the Championship somehow suddenly makes Beale some sort of guru; Villa were going downhill from the start of 2022, and this supposed genius was here for half the year.
I think it just shows how it’s easy to look good in the Championship (or Scotland, & maybe Portugal…) as Beale (& Dean Smith) do now, but much more difficult in the Premier League.
Both players are 29, but I’d have gone with Carlos too.
Yep, the prem is the definition of “another level”, which is probably why we love it.
And which makes it so difficult to navigate.
I wouldn’t say it’s easier in the championship just the opposite imo.
There’s a more level playing field, any team can beat any team on a given day hence it’s so difficult to get out of. It’s the total opposite of the premiership with its haves and have nots.
How do you think Pep would fair at Millwall?
I think that Pep, like “The Special One” before him, and by the sound of it, Pochettino, Tuchel, etc., – are a breed that couldn’t even attempt to push a struggling team up the table any more. Their only function is to polish-up teams that are already on the verge of greatness.
At the other end there are people like Allardyce, Bruce (once upon a time) & maybe Dyche, who probably never could coach at that level, but who usually manage to keep teams in the division.
Maybe there’s someone in the middle (Howe, Potter) who could do both sorts of job, but they seem few and far between.
It’s the disparity in resources once you get to the promised land.
Teams simply can’t compete and if you find a real diamond in rough the vultures are soon circling (once the player gets an international call up they’re tapped up). Add to that financial fair play, it’s pretty much a cartel.
Will we ever see a Clough – Shankley – Saunders again?
Somehow I doubt it.
IF, (big ‘if’) we end up with (say-) Dyche, and the owners give him as much as he can spend, it will be interesting to see if he can do more than reach 10th or similar in the league…
The point I’m trying to make is mid table mediocrity (with the odd cup run and maybe a venture into the Europa League) is about as good as it gets.
And I’m just wondering whether someone can do that, and still go higher!
Wouldn’t that he a thing of beauty ? ( Better still that someone was AVFC)
We can but dream mate 😁
Don’t shoot the messenger but its being said No Mcginn tomorrow. Would that be a good thing ? Danks might be seing a different way in football talent.
Bill, I’d be inclined to say McGinn has needed resting for months.
But given that he’s probably our most combative mid, I’m sure we’d miss him.
It just highlights how we need a lot more “muscle” in the middle.
McGinn has been pretty ineffectual almost since the start of this year -one or two good performances for Scotland apart- and I think the only reason SG didn’t drop him recently was that he’d made him captain in August,
Well worth giving Ramsey, Sansom, and Luiz a go, and both JJ & Luiz appesr agressive enough to me!
Apparently Ramsey is set to be dropped too.
I’d be fine with that, as I’m not part of his fan club and have long thought he doesn’t do anywhere near enough overall.
No disgrace though, as he’s only young, I hasten to add.
But if you were to drop both, who comes in?
Naka, with Luiz pushed further forward might be worth a go.
Sanson perhaps?
It still looks lightweight.
I can’t see McGinn and Ramsey both being dropped. I would probably rest Ramsey out the two and play McGinn further forward as he does for Scotland Gerrard and Smith both played him too deep. I sympathise with him for the way he is being made a scapegoat because he was given the captain’s armband. One of our biggest problems is we lack leaders. I have been saying it since we lost the likes of Hutton, Jedinak and Whelan. It says something that we are saying Ashley Young is currently our best player.
There is a lot to be done for the new manager and he will need to be backed big time in January.
Gerrard was learning on the job and it seems he had little input in the coaching side and from the touch line. It feels like he was appointed purely for the pull of signing players because after all it’s Stevie G!
Are we as fans with our claret and blue bias being unrealistic about who we can get? The chatter from the outside is maybe we should go for someone like Dyche.
Our owners have high expectations but in terms of transfer spending we haven’t set the world alight. The signing of Buendia, Ings and Bailey was covered by the Grealish sale. Other than that we haven’t made too many big signings. As long as we are languishing around the relegation zone we are going to find it tough getting real quality in.
I think we are in a relegation battle and unfortunately I can see similarities to 2016 with a new bomb squad forming from senior players underperforming with no resale value.
I am definitely worried with the way our club is run from top down. Also the clubs around us are showing battling signs of recovery with Leicester and Forest improving. We could see two West Midlands teams relegated if the next appointments are the wrong ones.
It’s all well repeating that x-number of buys were funded by the Grealish sale, but we need to remember that nobody around Villa Park wanted to see Grealish sold, and the club thought that by putting that £100m price tag on him, nobody would come in to buy him.
It’s not as if the owners went to cash-in on Grealish and then pocketed the money – it was a reluctant sale and then a quick attempt to fill the gap. Buendia should have been a great buy, and could still be. Ings was an obvious ‘rush buy’ but should be performing much better than he is. The only one I don’t understand is Bailey, like Traore before him – the odd touch of brilliance and mostly useless for 80 minutes each game.
I remember voicing concerns about ending up with another bomb squad many months ago. That’s the last thing we need to happen and I seriously need to have been wrong about that.
As for buys being covered by the Grealish money, well, that would seem to back up what some thought in that the owners didn’t really have that much faith in Gerrard.
If it’s true that they’ve held back purposely, that might mean the new manager gets a big fat pot to spend. which would provide that nice boost for the fanbase I talked about.
Players like Bailey and Coutinho are completely useless when out of possession. It’s like having 9 or 10 men depending on whether they are both playing. Buendia shows passion and should be played regularly.
FWIW I would play this side tomorrow:-
Martinez
Cash Chambers Mings Young
Nakamba
Buendia McGinn Luiz
Watkins
Why Mings & Chambers, rather than Chambers & Konsa?
Mings seems to need a re-set; he’s been a bit of a liability in recent games.
If there was a conspiracy theory with Mings wanting Gerrard out, then he certainly did his part. I only suggested Mings for the left foot CB.
According to reports Amorim has a buy out clause of around £26m which would be a World Record fee for a manager.
That sounds like a poor deal to me.
Whilst Dyche doesn’t exactly get me jumping with joy he might be a sensible choice given where we are and what we are trying to achieve. Running before you can walk springs to mind with some of the names that are being touted about.
Once again the club are in danger of trying for the glitzy solution – it didn’t work with Gerrard or Coutinho. Purslow is not a football man and neither are our owners who imho need to get some independent advice on this appointment.
We can think about the Pochinetto’s of this World if we first appoint a manager that can get us within striking distance of the top 8.
BFR has been very quiet.
Hitch, I’m starting to warm to the Dyche option. If Poch isn’t interested then possibly he could get us to mid table and like you said push on with a different manager when we are more desirable in our league position.
Mcginn days as captain are numbered then.🤣
(didn’t him and Mcginn have a massive bust up?)
We need to forget Pochettino; he obviously only wants instant CL football (like Tuchel). The only way I imagine him coming is if the owners offer him so much salary/bonus that he’s got nothing to lose to come, fail and get fired with a massive pay-off after a season.
I keep going on about Dyche: I hated him at Burnley, mostly because he seemed to have a habit of making apparenlty caustic comments about us whenever we played his team. In hindsight, what really grated with me was that he was usually right, and hearing someone saying something honestly and without bullshit while saying something I didn’t like wound me up.
As I said earler, unless they find a complete PL newbie, the end choice could be between Dyche and the Fat Spanish Waiter…
If it came down to that, I’d go with Dyche.
Lmao 😂
Yea I’ll take Dyche over Camarero Gordo.
100% no more ex Liverpool incoming unless it’s their current players.
New manager bounce tomorrow…
2-0 to the mighty Villa 🤞
I like your optimism RSS, but I think we will still struggle. I’m expecting us to try and take the game by the scruff of the neck but a year of shite coaching is going to be difficult to overcome a team still playing with confidence under a very good manager.
Holte, anything as got to be an improvement on the Fulham fiasco plus new manager bounce statistically, has 76% win rate.
If Gerrard was out of his depth, Danks is floundering in the dark in the Pacific with sharks circling. We will lose at least 0-3 tomorrow.
It seems that Gerrard has been dismissed with no plan in place. This is shocking and we could well be rock-bottom by the time the WC begins. It appears that Poch was wishful thinking, which says something about him. They all want an easy gig with guaranteed top 4 finish, no effort required. No guts, no glory, Mauricio. Your loss. Amorim is a massive risk, unless he really is ‘the next big thing.’ If he comes, at least he’s shown some cohones. If Sean Dyche is the best we can do, the club should move heaven and Earth to get Dean Smith back. We missed the boat with Howe and Potter – that severe error falls squarely at Purslow’s feet.
I’m getting to the point where I don’t care anymore, which is quite sad.
UTV?
Interesting point about Howe BFR. I seem to remember I got a lot of flak for suggesting Howe before he went to the Bar Codes. 🙂
I was wrong, Hitch.
Bloody hell you lot! I’ve had a smashing night at an awesome gig, sitting on the late train home because the last 2 were cancelled and you’ve all thrown in the towel!
Nowt has been decided as yet and the owners must have been sounding out replacements for a while. They ain’t that daft.
Everyone’s made valid points but let’s see what transpires. If we have to buy out a manager for silly mony then sobeit. It’s the next stupid stage of the footballing industry.
We WILL win tomorrow. Put a tenner on us!
Dyche is an interesting one.
He’s very much a pragmatic type of coach, who did a great job at Burnley, I thought and he could be exactly what we need just now.
Remember many had doubts about Howe at Newcastle, but he’s turned them into a good side.
I could see Dyche doing similar and at least we know the players would be well drilled and know what they’re supposed to be doing.
I’d love to see one of those top names, but detest the thought of us paying ridiculous amounts of compo.
And if the only way we could get Poch is to make him a wage offer he couldn’t refuse, I don’t want him either
.
Remember, us fans loathe the Chelskis, oil Citys and Newcastles for throwing the money around so much and I wouldn’t want us to go down that same road.
Well, maybe a bit, but not so much.
I guess what I mean is I want a manager who believes in the project and not 10’s of millions of £££££s
With you Bum Bum, anyone better than what we had , and yes we have top Business men they won’t have sat back , I lay a bet that all the obvious managers we are saying will not be in their thoughts. Big mistake Gerrard coming from Rangers that’s down to Purslow and it was bums on seat plus my mate Gerrard. Don’t give up yet it’s early days they will put it right .. a new beginning today it’s not over till that fat lady sings lads.
Anyone fancy a bid in for John Stones? He’s rotting on the bench at Citeh. Surely he can’t put up with that forever???
Sadly its the same old problem since the premier league was formed, so called top players and managers are only interested in teams in the champions league, and thats why its so difficult to break into the top 4
Bum Bum, Stones drops the same amount of goal-giving clangers as Mings per season. He gets away with it because his team-mates compensate and still win the game. There’s no difference to Mings from my perspective.