The Telegraph have run an article which seems to indicate at first glance that Roberto Di Matteo is definitely Dr Xia’s favoured choice as our next manager.
Here’s his wording, as quoted;
“That is maybe the reason that a lot of people say that I am favouring Di Matteo” he said.
But again I find his comment a bit cryptic and while it’s a clever answer (I definitely think Xia’s a very intelligent bloke), I don’t find that line at all convincing and strongly suspect it’s a smokescreen.
Certainly, it makes no sense for Xia to talk openly about his choice of manager before he’s actually got him in the bag.
What if he decides to knock us back, just as Moyes has supposedly done and Pearson is about to do, if you believe the reports, for instance?
It’d only make the club look bigger mugs than we already do.
I still think it’s Pearson myself.
And the thought that I’ve just read an article where Di Matteo was (accidentally? I don’t know) called “Dim Matteo”, isn’t lost on me.
If we do hire him and he’s seen to be failing, I can see that one sticking.
The overwhelming immediate problem though, is if Holis favours Pearson and Xia favours Di Matteo, who’s going to actually make the choice, given that Xia won’t officially own the club until the deal has been approved?
I’m led to believe that the PL will do due diligence first, followed by the FL when that’s finished, but surely they’ll both be working on this at the same time?
Common sense says you would hope so and they’re working in collaboration, to make the process even more thorough.
But no doubt that would be far too simple.
Waiting another month won’t do us much good and we need a manager in quickly, to cast an eye over the miserable bunch we have representing us.
Earlier in the article, Xia talks about the scouting staff.
Here’s his words again;
“I think a lot of Villa fans will agree that one thing we have to make much stronger is the scouting team,” he said.
“I think, more or less, the scouting team they had before, they have to take a lot of responsibility.”
Again it’s a clever answer and note the “more or less”.
It seems that this comment has led many to believe that Riley will get the bullet, something that would please many fans, myself included.
But I don’t see anything there that convinces me that Riley will automatically be sacked at all.
Holis hasn’t got rid of him, after all, has he? But perhaps that’s down to Lerner protecting him until the sale gets the PL and FL clearance.
I have to say doubt about Xia’s finances is beginning to be overtaken by the lack of a manager coming in, in my mind.
It needs sorting.
Comments
120 responses to “It’s looking like Di Matteo’s the one. Or is he? And Riley to get the bullet?”
I don’t want Di Matteo, fwiw.
Agree
No ta
What’s interesting about the interview and article us that the Telegraph appear to have moved away from their formerly suspicious position of Dr Xia’s credibility which I find encouraging.
Badger’s right in that his answers are very clever but also imply a sense of mischievousness which is a breath of fresh air after Lerner.
Swinging back to cautious optimism.
And no thanks to Di Matteo for me and neither do I think Villa will wait for the PL / FL to conclude their driving tests before appointing a new manager.
H60 we all keep worrying about his credibility (Me especially) but it really is the hideous media trying to drum up nonsense, as they cannot stand the thought of someone competing with their beloved SKY4.
LETS ALL HAVE AN OPTIMISTIC DAY !!
And they are now slagging of Jamie Vardy’s partner on his wedding day, a month before he represents his country…. Utter Scum !
Agreed saddened their a bunch gobshites fuckall else better to do than keep picking on villa.I’m optimistic mate
I read an article on the media stance on Villa by an independent writer, it was saying the very same thing about the national papers, why are they having a go at Villa with little and no knowledge about the man Xia, to tell the truth I don’t buy paper’s, haven’t for year’s, I read the web or take note on tv gossip. Di Matteo no thanks, Pearson for me.
I’m with Bill, Di Matteo’s a pretty uninspiring choice out the two it’s Pearson for me.
BWS, do you think that sport writer’s are hardest critics of Aston Villa? in General, we have been through two decades of constant abuses for one thing or other, I’m beginning to think its the city in General and why is it player’s refuse to move to our city ?Manchester, London, even Liverpool gain better respect than Birmingham. or could it be I’m in the dole drums over our plight.
I’ve been in the pearson corner from the off,I still am & hope the media have got this one totally wrong.
It goes back a lot further – Villa were given no credit when they won the league with the Nationals all complaining that Ipswich were the rightful title holders! There was even only grudging praise for us having a ‘lucky’ win in the Europen Cup against the ‘rightful champions’ Bayern. But it’s more than football – Birmingham as a City has never been given the credit it deserves with London and Manchester apoarently the only two major cities in the country.
Paranoid rant over!
All of the major media outlets are London and Manchester -based; we only have ‘local’ services here [& even the B’ham Post & Mail aren’t locally owned any more].
Most of the journalists don’t live anywhere near here and seem too lazy to travel to the Midlands unless it’s a quick visit for some scornful mocking copy every now and then.
It’s an interesting article in many ways:
Xia denies that he has any plans to re-name VP
While not actually confirming that Riley will get a P45, he does say that there will be ‘new’ people added to the scouting team.
As Badger has pointed out, Xia’s comments about DiMatteo can be taken in different ways – and I personally wouldn’t bet that he’s ‘about to be appointed’!
Then there are his interesting comments about his ‘personal’ links to politicians – all appropriately inscrutable!
Bat at least the media do seem to have stopped trying to dig up any ‘dirt’ – they seem to accept that the guy likes his privacy, and isn’t over-used to having to explain himself over and over to the press and TV in English…
Get Pearson in now before N’Zogbia leaves without someone punching him in the face.
LOL
I’d prefer to be a fly on the wall if Pearson had to meet Flabby for his first one-to-one management meeting…
I can’t possibly condone violence, but I nearly spat my tea out when I read that, DS.
Nice one 🙂
Dr Tony Xia,s is not worried about fit for purpose and that’s great to hear. But am a bit worried about Did Matteo coming in. He got west Brom up and win “Champions League ” I just don’t rate him. If he does come in he needs to be supported by us fans.
Whoever the manager is – whether he’s a fan’s particular choice or not we all have to get behind him and the team – it’s essential in the Championship.
No point getting behind a manager you know is shit. We got behind Garde made no difference.
Any new manager who comes in will be starting from scratch so should be treated as such,get behind him & give him a Chance.if he fucks up then by all means give him hell onwards & upwards VTID
Behave Giddy makes no difference. If a manager is crap they are crap. Our just 4 managers are crap and the fans got behind all of them!
Ranieri was crap up until he took over at Leicester. Sometimes a manager is a good fit for certain clubs. Yes some are shite fulls top I agree. But we are looking for someone to built from scratch so we have to give them support. Who would be your realistic choice be ? Personally I would push for Eddie Howe. Recon if we have the funds he could be a good long term option.
He was? Not really crap before going there.
Howe’s problem is he gets homesick, he can’t do it outside of Bournemouth.
Like were you’re coming from Tekkers an Eddie Howe types a good call I’d add Mark Warbuton to that or even Chris Hughton.
The sands of time for VILLA are running lowwwwwwwwwwww (Hallowed Be Thy Name iron maiden) lmao
tell me how man utd sack their manager and have another lined up. same with man city. you can bet everton will announce their manager before us. i am starting to panic, championship starts earlier than premiership. surely the new manager need to draw up plans, sign players which can’t have been scouted well if we haven’t got a scouting system in place.
iam aving a bitch sorry, but am i alone in worrying about the timescale, we were in such a mess last season, whats needed is MASSIVE clearance of most of the under performers. squad needs to be assembled quickly so they gel quickly. because when you change most of he squad its not easy to get the right balance as we saw last season.
Fair comment Nath but it has been complicated by the ownership situation. No manager is going to join unless he knows the potential new owners are in his camp.
i know that we have circumstances, that is not permitting us to progress at minute. i am just worried this isn’t helping us at all. waiting around,
couldn’t the new owner have agree verbally with manager. say to fans this without naming him, if thats a issue.then the new manager could then start preparing his backroom team, start watch the crap we watched last season to see what we haven’t got.
A new manager isn’t that imp whoever comes in is unlikely to get us promoted. Next season is all about staying up I’m afraid. Maybe the season after we can push for promotion but not next season
i have always said the press hate us, they are jealous off us. they hate anything whats not manachester teams and london teams. they must support um and are afraid off our history.
we need to appoint pearson now. give him control of the footballing side.he had some input into building leicester, which like west ham got relegated and returned stronger more focused, not just too surviving, but reaching for the stars.
looking at the odds for the new manager. bookmakers also don’t know who he will be, same as muppets in the press offices. bruce odds have dropped 10/1 lowest i seen of him.
A while ago on radio 5, Pat Murphy said that Remi Garde was treated abysmally by the players, they couldn’t, or wouldn’t do what was asked of them in training sessions, and the board gave him no support. They basically pissed all over a bloke who could’ve gone on to be a very good manager. I would’ve stuck with him and given him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to this summer, getting rid of all the idle shits and bring in whoever he wanted. I’m 100% sure he’s a better manager than Di Matteo.
Dave C, thats why you need a manager that would knock heads together, Pearson done his training under the right manager in Ferguson, I think given the rains at Villa he would sort the lazy sods out. Get him in now.
gardes was always gonna fail because the style he wanted to play was beyond the players quality at the club. also not being able to sign one single player compounded this, make no mistakes our squad is not currently championship level. both norwich and newcastle have better squads and better individuals.
massive job for next manager. its not another paint job or like oohahaha say plastering over cracks. we are a need for a rebuild from top to bottom. i believe in pearson too. he has the character and ability to relish the massive job and he won’t be intimidated by anger home fans, press or players ours or opposition. he also seems to build good team spirits. sign him up PLEASE
Nath – agree with you about the weakness of the present squad. I still don’t know why some people come on here and say that ‘they weren’t all bad’; OK, a couple of players [Ayew, Clark?] at least tried, but overall we were so far behind Norwich and Newcastle that it was shocking, The present squad taken as a whole would drop straight into the relegation places in the Championship.
Dave C – fair point about Garde; whatever crap the players might have thrown at him, he was certainly shafted by Lerner & Co; I can’t ever recall a club in Villa’s position in January just putting up the white flag and saying we’re basically down already so won’t bother signing anyone. The were like the team: no fight, no spirit, no pride in themselves. Guess we’ll never know how good a manager Garde might have been – well, until he goes and wins the CL with some team…
The Spanish Waiter signs three year deal at barcodes. Interesting as he’s never managed in the Championship. Good or bad deal?
Do you reckon he’ll still be there by Christmas?
Bad from our point of view. If the resources are at his disposal and he’s given a free hand (he no doubt will else he wouldn’t have signed on the dotted line) it makes them a given for automatic promotion (imo).
Wouldn’t argue with that at all, although it’ll be interesting to see whether Rafa gets all that he’s been promised – Mike Ashley’s record as owner is about on a par with Lerner’s when it comes to blowing hot and cold about investment, managers, etc.
We can only hope Mr S D keeps to form, it all implodes and goes horribly wrong.
Well fingers crossed.
No idea – does it make promotion more difficult for other clubs or will a lack of Championship experience count against him. Villa board seem clear that a manager with a successful Championship CV is vital.
I’d have expected Newcastle to be near-favourites for promotion whoever was manager, although some of their ongoing problems seem to be centred around the owner, rather than just the manager.
As for Rafa: 46 league games + whatever cup runs they manage; these teams will be playing twice a week for a good chunk of the season. My gut feeling is that experience of coping in that situation is worth more than any other credentials.
I think that Rafa is a vastly experienced manager who has proved himself at the top level. I think that with him on board Newcastle have a good chance at getting straight back up.
I honestly don’t think that this will have any bearing on Villa next season because I reckon it will take them at least two seasons to build a good enough team to get promoted. Promotion isn’t the only target though, we need to build a good enough team to stay in the PL once we’re get up there. That’s the harder part.
yeah FUCK OFF insomnia ,one of the worst players to pull on our famous jersey.
Yes, I just heard that story about Rafa on the Beeb.
Fair play to him. He must really like it there or he’s simply been made an offer that’s just too good to refuse.
I’ll bet he’s been promised a massive transfer pot, so yes, it has to make it harder for all the other clubs, us included.
Strange story of the week is Mourinho’s image rights are owned by Chelsea until 2025 and Man U might have to pay a licence fee to Chelsea, to use them!
Footy’s becoming a crazy world, imo.
Actually just wondering whether Rafa, in nailing his colours to the mast for Newcastle in the Championship, might make other managers think a little more deeply about the Villa job.
If the Championship is good enough for Rafa then might it be good enough for other experienced managers?
Just a thought.
It seems the PL and FL are conducting their diligence at the same time.
That’s good news.
Read that Badger – looks like common sense has prevailed – now there’s something as rare as a Villa win! 🙂
seems daft them both doing the tests.
what would happen if one passed and the other failed.
Both of them doing it is a nonsense. If we are still technically a Prem club they should do it and that be good enough for the FL. Or they should decide that since we are entering the FL they should do it and the PL stay out of it.
Otherwise every club that gets promoted or relegated between the two leagues should go through the process.
As I understood it, they are doing the work jointly – which seems pretty sensible, and should mean that it’s done pretty thoroughly.
and they can both get paid.
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/how-birmingham-evening-mail-reported-185796
Now that was a time! Has it really been 34 years though?
I remember it well, I was only 9 years old…. Flying back to Coventry airport, as Elmdon was shut, in a horrendous thunderstorm,
pearson looks like derby is his destination 🙁 gutted. i don’t believe matteo is the best option for us. but if that’s the owners choice we will have to respect that. just get behind the new set up and hope they hit the ground running. because theirs lots of work to be done.
I personally think we’ll be surprised who gets the job. Remember it was the old board who wanted a Championship experienced manager. Hollis and the likes. Dr Xia probably is going to take Little’s opinion but I wouldn’t be shocked if we get a far different manager than the ones linked.
i haven’t heard your choice andrew, who would be your preference, but has to be the managers that are being talked about.
any ideas who will end up getting the job ?? you say we could be surprised ?? like who could that be
My preference was Rodgers. Currently out of the linked its Moyes.
I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s anyone being heavily linked currently that we’ll get. Unless it does end up being Moyes.
i thought moyes went to parkhead ??
sorry blonde moment rodgers is at parkhead and moyes is back to goodison
Moyes is in talks with Goodison but neither the fans nor their current co-owner soon to be owner wants him. They want someone with a bigger name and different.
i personally think moyes is damaged goods. aston villa need a manager who knows want he wants. trusts in his ability i think moyes needs a easier gig.
have you heard about derby and pearson ?? apparently hes 1/4 odds on
Yeah read that, which is why I think it’s going to be a surprise manager. If Xia supposedly knows who he wants and Moyes ruled himself out, Pearson’s in talks elsewhere as did Di Matteo, I’d be surprised if its any one of them.
Then again who knows. Media’s been consistently wrong on who the Chinese consortium was, the fact we actually only have 1 owner, what he does, who he is. They’ve been clueless throughout the whole thing. We could very well get Di Matteo. Maybe it’s just me hoping we don’t.
I think Bruce could be a dark horse.
But do you have any idea where the rumour came from that he’s supposedly leaving Hull whatever happens? – I haven’t seen it in any mainstream media.
I haven’t this site is my source of info I don’t read any media bollox.
I first heard Talksports north west football guy talking about it a few weeks ago – graham Courtney I think
My mate who knows a bloke who works at Bodymore Heath says Bruce has held a couple of meetings there in the last few months.
I know that sounds like bollocks but he’s been fairly consistent in his story. Either that or Bruce is going to sign as a centre half – a definite upgrade on what we have.
bruce almighty odds have fallen steadily now 8/1 so your mate might be onto something. hull play this weekend win or lose we will know straight after. if bruce steps down
nothing against matteo as well i just don’t think hes the man to sort the club out. needs a strong manager,able to stand strong when the chips are down. their will be plenty ups and downs next season. plenty of mini crisis
guess we just have too wait and wait. hopefully not long now maybe tomorrow
no way it is roberto di matteo :(((
All of tonight’s papers saying it is….
and this is what they call ambition. Awful appointment
I just don’t get why he’s been leading the race for weeks now… what’s in his record that suggests he can re-build the Villa under these circumstances?
Exactly strange choice. Don’t want this guy at all he’s crap
its him for sure his odds have doubled to 1/6 with all the top firms. i am off to cry now
Maybe I can’t imagine him in the job because every time I see a photo of him I immediately think of Stewie from “Family Guy”…
Wouldn’t be my choice but will back Di Matteo as out new manager (if or should I say when) it’s confirmed. Telegraph saying that (having failed to dig the dirt on Dr Xia – my words) there are now concerns over the makeup of the Board. I can only assume that’s a reference to Samuelson because of his history with Reading?
*is our new manager
Who’s “concerns”?
They draw a blank on digging -up any more rubbish on Xia, so they invent another ‘concern’ – anything to be able to write some more negatives.
Amazes me the Telegraph are trying to dig up dirt on our new owner – when they are owned by the worst tax dodging family in Uk history —- disgusting scum.