It’s official; Gerrard is our new manager. This is really risky.

So it’s official then. Steven Gerrard is our new manager after the club released a statement around an hour ago.
It’s believed that negotiations are ongoing with regards to the Rangers background staff, but it would seem it’s pretty much a formality and they’ll all be following Gerrard down to Villa park.

The good news is that it’s rumoured that we’ll only have to pay compensation of £4 million maximum and it could be less. In today’s world, that seems cheap to me and it seems the Gers dropped the ball there in not ensuring it was a higher figure.

I know this appointment has captured the imagination of a lot of Villa fans, particularly the younger amongst us, but I have to hold my hands up and say straight away that I’m worried.
Yes, I get it all. He’s a winner and a leader. He’s done very well at Rangers, in winning the title. I personally don’t think that’s much of an achievement, but the fact is you still have to actually win it and he did.
I get all of that.

And when you look at it, it’s a really good move all round and even more so for Gerrard.
We get a young, dynamic manager who’s on the up and even though I’m not wholly convinced, when I look around and consider who we might otherwise get, I really don’t see much.
Yes, I could name some managers who I would have much preferred, but there’s no way we’d have got them.
So Gerrard is pretty much about as good as we could have hoped for.

And in return, there’s no way Gerrard was going to get a top Premier league club yet. I saw it written elsewhere by a Rangers fan, that Villa and Everton are probably in the next tier, so we’re ideal.
Add in that there will no doubt be some very serius money to spend and we already have a very good squad anyway and there is no doubt that we’re about as good a job as Gerrard could expect at this stage in his career.

There is of course the fact we all know that Gerrard is hoping to use the Villa as a stepping stone on the way to running his beloved Liverpool. That does on the face of it annoy me and I know it really irks many of you.
But I’m okay with it really. It doesn’t matter what club a manager might support or end up managing, they will all have the ambition of maybe one day running one of the really big clubs. It’s only the fact that he has such an allegiance to Pool that makes it a big deal in some eyes.

But then, keeping my level head on, I have to see this as massively risky all round.
The plain and simple fact is that Gerrard has no experience of managing in the Premier league.
Indeed, it’s something that was thrown at Dean Smith by some fans that didn’t rate him when we first got promoted.
I thought that was harsh, as though he lacked Premiership experience, he had at least spent a good few years as a manager, which would stand him in good stead.
Well, we all know how that’s worked out and those early nay-sayers have possibly proven to be correct. Sadly Dean Smith was rapidly beginning to look out of his depth.

So Gerrard also lacks Prem experience, but also lacks much experience at all and it worries me.
Gerrard hasn’t had to struggle as a manager before and it’s all going to be new to him. Which would be fine, but our current position means that if Stevie doesn’t get us rolling instantly we’re going to be mired in a relegation battle as we approach probably our worst string of fixtures of the season.

And wow, does he have a major job on his hands.
He has to try and sort out our awful defence, gel our new signings (maybe after he’s found out why they’re still not fit) and try and get kids more involved before they decide they’ve had enough empty promises of games and opt to leave.

The good news here is that it’s very much in the manager’s interest to suceed, because if he doesn’t, he’ll only be setting himself back

I might seem as though I’m being overly cynical, but it’s only out of concern for the club.
But of course, I wish him the very best of luck and will try not to adopt an approach where he has to win me over.

UTV! Onwards and upwards.

110 Comments

Page 3 of 3 1 2 3
  1. badger123
    badger123 November 15, 2021 at 8:12 pm . Reply

    Wtf?
    I must be going blind.
    England given a pen for handball, yet it looked like the defender was nowhere near touching it, to me?

    1. Hitchens60
      Hitchens60 November 15, 2021 at 8:28 pm . Reply

      Ah Badger, you and me on the same page.

      Yes, it touched his finger tips. Was it deliberate – no. Was he trying to get his hand out of the way – yes. Did it deny a goal scoring opportunity – no.

      Was the penalty a stupid decision – yes (and he got a yellow card – even more idiotic).

      As someone said – the ref had to take the ‘walk of shame and didn’t have the guts to tell VAR to FO.

  2. Hitchens60
    Hitchens60 November 15, 2021 at 8:15 pm . Reply

    Change of topic – we’ll change of direction!

    Watching England (out of one eye) and have just seen the most idiotic penalty decision following a VAR review – as if England need crap penalty decisions to beat SM.

    When did ‘deliberate hand ball’ disappear from the rules?

    I still think VAR is a joke.

    1. Hitchens60
      Hitchens60 November 15, 2021 at 8:24 pm . Reply

      Turned it off – what a waste of time.

      When will FIFA realise that they have to grade some international teams at a different level rather than throwing the weaker teams into Groups to be regularly ‘slaughtered’.

      Cricket has learnt that lesson and now have separate qualifying for the weaker ‘associate’ nations which allows one or two of the these sides to qualify for and experience World Cup Finals which, in turn, helps their development. They even pull off the odd shock which adds to the whole experience.

    2. badger123
      badger123 November 15, 2021 at 8:31 pm . Reply

      Sorry, Hitch, I don’t understand what you’re saying???

      Kane breaks records in what isn’t even a match.

      6-0 after 40 minutes against a team whose country’s population is a bit bigger than Kingstanding.
      It’s just embarrassing, yet the commentators are practically raving about it.

      1. badger123
        badger123 November 15, 2021 at 8:32 pm . Reply

        Re the pen, mean.

        1. badger123
          badger123 November 15, 2021 at 8:34 pm . Reply

          Ah, i see.
          I didn’t think he touched it, even after watching the replay 10 times or more.

          1. Hitchens60
            Hitchens60 November 15, 2021 at 8:47 pm . Reply

            The ball did brush his finger tips but the award of the penalty seems completely non sensical to me.

            Whatever happened to the application of common sense?

            1. Holte
              Holte November 15, 2021 at 9:02 pm . Reply

              There is no common sense anymore in the modern game Hitch. I’m finding it hard to enjoy football these days. Whether it’s JG abandoning ‘HIS’ club to the lack of patience from clubs owners to the mundane international qualifying we have to endure what seems to be as often as club games these days. 😡

              1. Hitchens60
                Hitchens60 November 15, 2021 at 9:20 pm .

                And Wenger wants to impose this International rubbish on us every two years.

                I despair

              2. Big Fat Ron
                Big Fat Ron November 15, 2021 at 10:41 pm .

                Hitch, I was thinking about the Wenger issue. If you’d allow me to synthesise it with the issue of strong nations spanking minows in embarrassing qualifiers like tonight, perhaps that’s why dear Arsene made the suggestion. If there was a tournament every two years, there would be less of the stupidity we saw tonight, and more meaningful competitive football. I’m totally against it, don’t get me wrong. Be we all know the amount of qualifiers played that are a no-contest is a disgrace. Kane will need to get to at least 70 International goals before he can really believe that he deserves the record. Just a thought.

              3. Hitchens60
                Hitchens60 November 16, 2021 at 11:04 am .

                BFR – do they need to go to a biennial WC to deal with the issues raised last night?

                With 4 years between each WC there’s plenty of time to devise and run a qualifying system similar to the cricket world cup where (say) teams below a certain World Ranking play a separate Qualifying Competition with a specified number either achieving a place at the finals or joining the higher ranked teams in a second qualifying arrangement. Perhaps Wenger and his mates at FIFA would be better employed considering this approach rather than trying to destroy domestic football

              4. Bum Bum
                Bum Bum November 17, 2021 at 8:55 pm .

                Holte, there’s no common sense ANYWHERE at the moment never mind football!
                I bet Amazon are kicking themselves putting so many Villa fixtures on. There’s going to be a lot of focus on Gerrard over the next few weeks and we get to see it close up!!!!

  3. badger123
    badger123 November 15, 2021 at 9:08 pm . Reply

    Italy struggling against Northern Ireland.
    That bugs me.
    If horseface had gone for it, we’d have beaten them easily, imo.

    1. Big Fat Ron
      Big Fat Ron November 15, 2021 at 10:42 pm . Reply

      Yep.

  4. Neil
    Neil November 16, 2021 at 4:07 am . Reply

    Another shout. I no it ewas San Marino, but Mings looked like a different player on the left of a back 3.

    1. badger123
      badger123 November 16, 2021 at 10:09 am . Reply

      I really don’t think you can come to any conclusions when you’re playing the lowest rated team in the world, Neil.

  5. Ardent Villain
    Ardent Villain November 16, 2021 at 2:02 pm . Reply

    As a bit of a traditionalist (OK – just an an ‘Old Fart’ -) I find these totally meaningless international games against amateurs/ part-timers / foreign pub teams really irritating.

    For a start, there are far too many international games that mean we have players disappearing around the world for two weeks at a time four or five times through the domestic season. (Who’s paying their salaries?)

    On top of which, with the number of internationals being played now (particularly against the likes of Andorra, Malta, San Marino, etc) the statistical records have become almost meaningless: so Kane overtakes Lineker in the England rankings, is close to catching Bobby Charlton and will even probably overtake Rooney before next summer ( & I’ve always thought Rooney had it a bit easy..).

    Great. Having watched most of the internationals that they’d played over the years, I know in which order I’d rate those players, and Harry Kane wouldn’t be in the same league…

  6. VillaAwayInDiv3
    VillaAwayInDiv3 November 16, 2021 at 9:26 pm . Reply

    Yes I too thought Lineker and Rooney shouldnt be near Bobby Charlton as they took Pens….someone said they are goals as well but I aint havin that…..lol.

  7. badger123
    badger123 November 17, 2021 at 2:29 pm . Reply

    The Sun are saying we interviewed Lampard before Gerrard.
    I don’t understand that.
    It’s no surprise that he isn’t working yet.

    1. Hitchens60
      Hitchens60 November 17, 2021 at 2:42 pm . Reply

      Smith went Sunday and we interviewed Gerrard, in London, on Wednesday and, as I understand it there was an offer and acceptance at that interview (over dinner with Purslow). That suggests to me there was only one candidate and Purslow went to that meeting with the full backing of the owners.

      So when, exactly did this ‘interview’ with Lampard take place? Over the telephone.

      Purslow ‘Hi, is that Mr. Lampard’
      Lampard Yes
      Purslow ‘We’re going to offer the Villa job to Gerrard but, if he turns it down, are you interested?’
      Lampard ‘No, thanks for asking but I’m busy messing Norwich around at the moment’
      Purslow ‘Thought so’

      🙂

    2. Ardent Villain
      Ardent Villain November 17, 2021 at 4:43 pm . Reply

      The Sun. Says it all really.

    3. Big Fat Ron
      Big Fat Ron November 18, 2021 at 2:54 pm . Reply

      You have to wonder about Lampard. The Villa and Newcastle jobs have come and gone, and he’s still out of action. What’s he waiting for, exactly?

      1. Ardent Villain
        Ardent Villain November 18, 2021 at 4:04 pm . Reply

        He’s waiting for Chelsea to come back, adnit that they were “wrong” and give him a 2nd go…
        -or maybe ManU to offer him the job when they ditch Ole.

  8. Tom
    Tom November 18, 2021 at 12:24 pm . Reply

    I’m really not confident in Steve Gerrard.
    I think this is a crazy appointment. I’m actually a little embarrassed by his arrival.
    I don’t believe he has a clear idea of what it is he wants to create at the club, I don’t believe he has inspirational leadership qualities.
    From the video of him at training and the press conference he looks uncomfortable. The training looks like a lot of posturing.
    I see this whole thing costing us terribly, our premier league status for a start.
    Awful idea.

    1. Hitchens60
      Hitchens60 November 18, 2021 at 1:19 pm . Reply

      It’s all about opinions Tom.

      I’m pretty neutral – maybe could have been better, definitely could have been worse.

      Very managerial appointment carries risk with it.

      Only time will tell.

      1. Big Fat Ron
        Big Fat Ron November 18, 2021 at 2:53 pm . Reply

        Tom, i think you’re wrong. Gerrard reminds me of Rogers about ten years ago. I love the fact that he makes sure the defence is solid as something to build on – a gritty 1 – 0 win on Saturday wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. I believe he will be inspirational and will set very high standards – higher than before.

        My only concern is Danks and MacPhee will be in his and his team’s way. I wouldn’t want old staff hanging about waiting to be given something to do if I walked into a job like this with all my team in place. Doesn’t really make sense to me, but he’s professional enough to get on with it…

        As a side note, I’ve just seen a stat that proves we are the most fouled team in the league since we came up in 19-20. That includes this season, so Grealish’s departure hasn’t seen that trend stop; it’s continued. Maybe that’s why MacPhee has a role to play. If you’re winning all these fouls, surely you need to be capitalising on them?

        Which leads me to another side-note. I saw a highlights real of Paul Scholes the other day, the context of which was he was one of the greatest midfielders. Almost every clip showed Scholes in his own half spraying the ball 50+ yards wide to the likes if Ronaldo, Nani, Rooney and Valencia out wide to mount an attack. So this playing the ball out from the back in the name of ‘total football’ is bollocks, and results in Mings looking like a donkey once a month. There’s a difference between aimless hoof-ball, and playing accurate long passes to put the opposition under pressure. McGinn is more than capable of playing passes like this. Perhaps from free-kicks as well as open play?

        A few points to mull over there…

        1. Ardent Villain
          Ardent Villain November 18, 2021 at 4:10 pm . Reply

          Like you, I get totally frustrated watching defenders playing sideways between themselves when they’ve got posession and thinking that they’re being clever.

          As for McGinn, he should be able to do what you’ve mentioned – BUT his passing can be erratic. It often seems that he almost gets caught on the wrong foot when he’s trying to make a quick pass to attack, and ends-up giving the ball to the opposition. The ball just seems to ‘bounce’ off him straight to an attacking player coming at us. Lost count how many times his mis-pass has ended up costing us an instant goal!

  9. Hitchens60
    Hitchens60 November 18, 2021 at 1:16 pm . Reply

    From Gerrard’s press conference.

    Lange – ‘We had 20 applications, shortlisted 4 and spoke to them all’

    So, it seems The Sun could be right in that Villa did speak to Lampard but the spin they put on it was very misleading.

    1. Ardent Villain
      Ardent Villain November 18, 2021 at 1:43 pm . Reply

      Wonder whether that 20 includes ‘The Legend That Was Dwight Yorke’ ??

  10. Hitchens60
    Hitchens60 November 18, 2021 at 8:27 pm . Reply

    According to Brum Live, Luiz (hamstring) and Sanson (unknown) are not fit for the Brighton game.

    Sanson – unknown! Well that about sums him up in one word. He’s fast becoming a prime candidate to play The Invisible Man.

    They claim Nakamba will be available – no doubt half fit.

    I can’t see any ‘wow’ decisions on line up – as you were then.

    Unsurprisingly Lawro’s gone all starry eyed about Gerrard predicting a 2-0 win for the Villa, whereas his opposition this week has, more reasonably, opted for a 1-2 to Brighton.

    I’m backing the latter.

  11. badger123
    badger123 November 18, 2021 at 9:16 pm . Reply

    I’m telling you, there is something massively not right about Sanson.
    If it’s not Covid, it’s whatever and it’s blindingly obvious to me.
    I said it weeks back and stand by it; He’ll be gone, having hardly played a game.

    1. Big Fat Ron
      Big Fat Ron November 18, 2021 at 10:54 pm . Reply

      He can join ‘Matty’ Berson, Veretout, and Amavi as the legendary French contingent to have graced Villa Park.

  12. Adam
    Adam November 19, 2021 at 11:00 am . Reply

    For me Gerrard is making all the right noises and it doesn’t seem so doom and gloom at the Villa for now which is great. I’d love for this to work out as I really believe Gerrard has the right motivation and noose to succeed and make us a great team again. Comments like ‘ I want to play possession based football’ is great but if that’s to be a success then we need to pass and move a lot lot more than we have been. not just around the back either, right through the team. That’s a mentality/tactics issue. We ball watch too much, we are far too static, I lose count every game how many times our defenders pass it to our midfield in a dangerous situation when they’re running back at our own goal only for us to get pressed hard and either pass the ball back to the defenders for a long hoof upfield or a bad first touch leads to us being intercepted and then the opposition get a free run at our defence. It literally makes me so angry. If Gerrard can sort this 1 issue alone guarantee we will be more exciting to watch, harder to play against, keep more possession and win more football matches! looking forward to tomorrow, UTV

    1. Big Fat Ron
      Big Fat Ron November 19, 2021 at 12:29 pm . Reply

      Lambert was a master at ‘possession based football.’ He used to insist we dominated every game in the post match interviews after his dire team had had their arses handed to them again.

      I hope Gerrard is planning a more ‘expansive’ style of possession based football, otherwise it might be worth bringing the knitting needles and yarn to VP…

Post Comment