Next Manager?

There is nothing wrong with appointing someone like Steve Bruce as a safe pair of hands. My frustration comes from the fact that a so called professional organisation appears to be unprepared yet again for an eventuality that most of their "customers" saw coming weeks ago. It's no wonder we dropped the word "PREPARED" from the clubs badge.

So much for a new, more enlightened era?

Sandie wrote:So much for a new, more enlightened era?

Exactly .... When will AVFC realise that we are still a "BIG" club and act accordingly. We seem to be almost apologetic in the way we do our business. No one out there is too big to be approached if we're serious enough to invest big money into our search for a new manager.

Spending 50 million on championship players in the summer, then penny pinching over the most important purchase (a new manager) a couple of months later is amateur in the extreme. We are several months into Dr T's ownership and I expected to see an aggressive plan in place by now. Instead we seem to be content to tip toe around with cap in hand, trying not to offend other clubs by attempting to poach a decent current manager. Recycling from a small pool of out of work managers who have been well compensated each time they've been sacked, does not fill me with confidence for the future.

If I were Dr T I would have asked Steve Round to analyse the 12 competitive games we've played this season.

Were the opposition generally fitter than us?

Were we out thought tactically during games?

Were their substitutions more timely or effective than ours?

Was the opposition manager more supportive or effectively vocal on the touch line?

In short .... all the things that explain why our supposedly able and experienced players have only managed one win in twelve games.

It should then inform the choice of manager we employ now. We have a good opportunity to match a management style to the needs of our squad. We now know exactly which areas of our game are weak and the new manager must be able to address those weaknesses starting next week.

If Steve Bruce has the particular qualities to address our shortcomings then give him the job. If we need a different set of management skills, then let's throw big money at securing a man with those skills.

We need to be ruthless in this appointment process .... so far the whole thing has looked distinctly half hearted.

villabromsgrove wrote:

Sandie wrote:So much for a new, more enlightened era?

Exactly .... When will AVFC realise that we are still a "BIG" club and act accordingly. We seem to be almost apologetic in the way we do our business. No one out there is too big to be approached if we're serious enough to invest big money into our search for a new manager.

Spending 50 million on championship players in the summer, then penny pinching over the most important purchase (a new manager) a couple of months later is amateur in the extreme. We are several months into Dr T's ownership and I expected to see an aggressive plan in place by now. Instead we seem to be content to tip toe around with cap in hand, trying not to offend other clubs by attempting to poach a decent current manager. Recycling from a small pool of out of work managers who have been well compensated each time they've been sacked, does not fill me with confidence for the future.

I also sincerely doubt he is being appointed with our supposed long term strategy in mind. It seems to me that the club are waiting until we are back in the PL before that begins. The right call? I think it is easier to re-build from scorched earth after a relegation than try to establish a new team whilst consolidating after a return to the Premier League.

On a more positive note, there's a clip going round of Bruce being interviewed earlier today. He looks well, a bit more svelte and as if a couple of months break have re-energised him a bit. All positive though no doubt he will look about 75 after a couple of months in charge.

villabromsgrove wrote:If I were Dr T I would have asked Steve Round to analyse the 12 competitive games we've played this season.

Were the opposition generally fitter than us?

Were we out thought tactically during games?

Were their substitutions more timely or effective than ours?

Was the opposition manager more supportive or effectively vocal on the touch line?

In short .... all the things that explain why our supposedly able and experienced players have only managed one win in twelve games.

It should then inform the choice of manager we employ now. We have a good opportunity to match a management style to the needs of our squad. We now know exactly which areas of our game are weak and the new manager must be able to address those weaknesses starting next week.

If Steve Bruce has the particular qualities to address our shortcomings then give him the job. If we need a different set of management skills, then let's throw big money at securing a man with those skills.

We need to be ruthless in this appointment process .... so far the whole thing has looked distinctly half hearted.

All good points. Our thought process looks to have been "Well Steve Bruce is available, he has done well as a manager in the Championship", "That Wagner chap is doing well at Huddersfield" etc etc rather than looking for a manager who addresses the weaknesses we've seen or who has a philosophy that fits with the existing squad or the intended long-term ethos of Aston Villa. Is it a negative sign about how Wyness, Round etc intend to operate or are they getting Bruce in to buy time to create a blueprint for the future?

He had a new haircut and was wearing TV make up including eyeliner. The clever bit was the over sized white shirt which was obscuring the bulk.

I sound like I'm anti Bruce, but I'm not. I like the guy and have huge respect for him as an individual and man of principles. He's also a likeable fella. My concerns are based purely on whether he's the best available candidate for a big ambitious club .... which is what Dr T tells us we are.

I think there is an acceptance of him by a lot of fans, there have been people out there who have even championed him. Do you think that would have been the case if we were in the Premiership? A definite no, for me.

I think Villa fans accept things with a lot less resistance today. We've been worn down to a state of apathy by a club that continually gets things wrong.

I guess that with hungry young managers being deemed beyond our reach, Steve Bruce is acceptable on the basis of being the best of a bad bunch.

No ambition has been displayed in our search which disappoints me although I should be used to it by now.

It was the same with our search for players during the summer. The fans knew that we desperately needed to sort out our midfield and bring in experienced creativity, mobility and assisters, and we also needed a big experienced keeper. Instead we overloaded on strikers and took chances by leaving the the areas that needed strengthening woefully thin.

It's a trademark of our club that our senior managers never appear to be as in tune with our needs as the fans.

I still hope to be proved wrong.

It's eerily quiet today for a club with no manager.

villabromsgrove wrote:It's a trademark of our club that our senior managers never appear to be as in tune with our needs as the fans.

Fans tend to be too prone to knee jerk or romantic decisions. This managerial search has been marked by a lack of considered, indepth thought of a different kind. However, I will agree that managers and executives at Villa have always seemed disturbingly unable to see what it is right in front of their faces particularly recently. Di Matteo was a spectacular example of that both as an appointment and in his own decisions.

As for the quietness, surely just the calm before the storm of the inevitable Bruce appointment. Unless we are to have a surprise? All the noise so far seems to be from Bruce's camp and even he seems to feel he has only been sounded out.

If it is to be Bruce, why the delay?

Not necessarily Bruce, says Pat Murphy:

If there is any substance to Pat Murphy's comments tonight, I can only shake my head in amazement that Villa have once again gone at things arse about face.

If they wanted to sound out Dyche, Wagner, Johnson etc it had to have been done early last week to initiate the search process. They would have found out very quickly whether any of their 'top employed candidates' were interested by having a quiet word with their agents.

Being swayed by second hand soundbites when these individuals are asked by the media whether they're interested in taking another job, (the answer is always "I'm not thinking about anything except this brilliant job I've got now") would be just plain daft.

To think they can approach Dyche at this late stage (without a private assurance that he would take the job) would be an example of crass managerial stupidity. It would be seen as disrespectful to Steve Bruce, who would be expected to assume the role of second or even third choice. Any authority that Bruce hoped to bring to the Villa job would have been eroded by the fact that the players and fans would know that he wasn't first choice.

I can only assume that Pat Murphy has got it wrong!

You'd think if we were going down this path the manager in question or at least his people will have been sounded out already. Now all that would be needed would be an approach to the club so that more formal talks can be initiated. All very strange either way if true. Especially, if one recalls that Xia has already said there are only two on the shortlist.