Let’s get the review out of the way.
I didn’t see it and didn’t really need too.
We conceded a goal early in the second half, again from a stupid defensive mistake (this time on Guzan’s part) and then failed to score, albeit we apparently had some chances.
Swansea were dire and we still couldn’t beat them.
Review over.
Same old, same old and none of it’s a surprise is it?
In my opinion, we now have only one winnable game left, which is Newcastle at home.
And I really expect us to lose that.
Let’s clarify what I’m saying here.
I don’t think we’re going to get another point this season, the way things stand.
And that is just disgraceful.
Which is where you have to look at Remi Garde’s record.
And it’s simply atrocious, at any level.
The simple fact is we’ve won three games out of twenty-three. I make that a fraction over a 13% win ratio. Which to me says it all.
While I’ve made myself pretty clear that I’ve had serious doubts about Garde being the right man for a while now, I’ve also listened to the arguments that he was dealt a dreadful hand with the squad we have. It’s something I agree with.
And I’m also happy to bear in mind that he was stitched up in the transfer window.
It can’t possibly be fair to judge his merits as a manager and someone who knows decent footballers without having the chance to bring at least a couple in.
But it is fair to expect that something might change for the better, at least. That’s what a decent manager achieves in any job if he’s any good, surely?
Whether it’s merely improved morale, a more efficient way of working or better communication or whatever?
But it simply hasn’t happened, as far as I can see.
If you believe the stories that are going around, morale is lower than whale proverbial.
It’s been suggested that there’s a split amongst the squad for a while and today I’ve read that there’s a split between the top squad and the academy.
While you often can’t believe what you read in the media, my opinion says there’s no smoke without fire and there has to be some substance behind these stories.
In Garde’s defence, I suspect he knows full well what the problems are, but he lacks an “enforcer”, who can make Garde’s decisions happen, by being a more physical, dominant type.
In other words, Garde’s too nice a bloke to say what he sees. Or at least put it across in a forceful enough way.
Which is exactly what we don’t need.
I’m also now beginning to suspect that this is the reason why Garde never got any money to spend.
I reckon he can’t dominate the squad when things aren’t working and he frankly doesn’t know how to get round this problem.
It would certainly explain why there seems no discipline in the way we play, wouldn’t it?
Even if I’m miles off the mark in my guesswork, it doesn’t really matter.
The simple facts are Garde looks like a beaten man in charge of a team that is beaten before it walks on the pitch.
And it’s only a matter of time now before he leaves.
There are only two questions remaining for me now.
1) Will Garde walk or will he wait to be paid off? (my money says the latter. I’d take a world of crap over a few more months for what will be at least a £1 million payout).
2) Why the hell are we apparently considering Kevin McDonald to take over as the interim manager again?
I reckon I could do a better job than him and I’m not the sort who promotes himself, trust me.
Simply an awful choice when we have Brian Little amongst our ranks, in my opinion.
Bring pearson in championship experience plus brought Leicester up.Gary neville knob jockey stick to running Salford he couldn’t even work with a good squad of players at his disposal how the fuck could he manage our SHITE.
and another sacking in 18 months cannot see him taking us forward plus all his backroom staff still at Leicester they going to leave that job arnt they!
How the fuck can you forsee a managers tenure at a football club when nowadays managers not just pearson could be sacked at a drop of a hat.
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/aston-villa-this-house-is-circus.html?m=1
Another interesting and balanced article…
This is an excellent article that clearly sets out the detail behind Villa’s finances and really worth reading.
Despite fans views, it’s clear that Lerner has invested very significant sums of money but in a nutshell the investment has been wasted by poor management decisions. Of course Lerner has to take a large share of responsibility for that but the article does give a huge amount of credibility to the points that Hollis has been making.
Hollis may be the right appointment albeit a few years too late but only time will tell whether he can turn the club around. One thing is clear from the article – no one is going to buy the club (other than maybe for £1 – see Bolton Wanderers recent deal) given the combination of poor footballing and financial performance over the last five years – any due diligence will fail on both those areas.
Final point – I doubt very much whether Lerner has lined anything let alone his pockets!
Fantastic article – frightening how poorly the club has been run – Appointing a seasoned accountant and turnaround specialist to the helm, was the only thing Lerner could have done !
Garde getting the sack picking up major speed in the rags, suggested it could be as early as today!
Feel sorry for the bloke as I was one of the happy ones when he was appointed, We’ve all discussed plenty his many shortcomings so I won’t bother at the sake of repeating myslef and others.
He needs to go and good luck to him in the future, good manager, at completely wrong time unfortunately.
Looking ahead, I think we should realistically be looking at either Warnock or Rogers. I’m on the fence but leaning towards Warnock, his promotion stats are second to none. He knows the ins and outs of the lower leagues like very few others do. A sensible appontment if we’re looking at an immediate bounceback I’d say.
Rogers would be the ‘football philosophy’ (whatever that actualy means, buzz word) type and we’d probably play nice football but I’d expect no immediate return the PL with him in place. If you don’t mind spending a couple or more years a division below he certainly knows how to mould a team as he did at Swansea.
OK lots of media speculation – will have to wait and see whether Garde goes or not.
If he goes, I believe we should appoint a new manager as quickly as possible and NOT wait to the end of the season. The new manager needs to assess the squad and it’s better to do that in a real time training / game situation.
That effectively rules out any manager currently in a job and leaves three potential targets – Pearson, Moyes and Rodgers. Pearson, according to reports, has said he’s interested but not until the end if the season. I wouldn’t take him anyway because on this I do agree with Nath – we don’t need a self publicist which Pearson is.
We have sacked the Sporting Directir are supposed to be seeking a replacement. The media reported that we spoke to Moyes before appointing Garde but he wanted too much say in the running of the club.
Why not appoint Moyes – give him the say he wants and abandon the Sporting Director idea. Think that would be well received by the fans in general (not all of course!)
I’ve got no problem with giving a manager total control and a big sack of cash.
If the team don’t win then it’s easy to point the finger at the person responsible.
I’ve never really understood what a Sporting Director or Director of Football does anyway.
At last – Bernstein has stated that Villa have ( for some years) lacked a CEO (or Operational Director) with a good background in football. They are looking for a new operational head with football knowledge ‘I don’t want just a business man – he must have a background in football’. And it would seem they are not looking for a Sporting a Director or Director of Football – thank heavens.
Are matters really starting to move now?
One can only hope.
Having said that we’ve all been doing a lot of that over the past few years and it never got us anywhere did it?
Been away for a couple of weeks and only heard about the comings & goings via odd snippets on American tv sports channels…
Can only say that all of this is at least 6 months, if not 9 or 12, too late. If Garde goes now, we’ll have to find a manager who knows the lower leagues and how to get out of them.
We’re relegated we’re buggered and I really don’t know whether anything that the ‘new board’ do now will help bring us back up in 2016/17.
even if garde goes i can not see us appointing a new manager until the end of the season.
who wants relegated avfc on their cv
Looks like Garde’s off and good luck to him, owners hung him out to dry and players have had a free ride on the back of that.
What amazes me is some of the possible candidates I’m hearing – we couldn’t attract anyone of any calibre whilst we’ve been fighting relegation for the last few years so why on earth would the likes of Rogers or Moyes come now?
I think Pearson, Bruce or anyone at the bottom of the prem who lose their job at the end of the season are the best we can hope for quite frankly.
Just a shout but Ian Hollaway?
He has some blood and thunder about him that we have been crying out for. The man certainly has heart and would make any player realise how big we really are. He has done a job in the championship a few times as well.
We won’t get a better manager than Garde, but I wish Remi well should he leave- he’s kept his dignity at a time where the owner and players around him have been a complete and utter disgrace.
No manager will bring success with these players. Not Guardiola, Not Mourinho, nobody. The main focus right now should already be looking to offload as many of these wasters that masquerade as PL footballers as soon as the transfer window re opens. I would go as far as to say certain members of the squad like Gabby, Richards and Lescott should be paid off regardless of financial implication because they are that poisonous to the future of our club.