The next Villa Manager

If Xia has access to Billions then we shouldn't worry about finances at all?

Dunno why, this is just a gut instinct but I think it will be Woy

4BetLite wrote:If Xia has access to Billions then we shouldn't worry about finances at all?

Dunno why, this is just a gut instinct but I think it will be Woy  

Funny you should say that was just about to post on here i reckon it will be Woy Hodgson

WM have just said that Wagner has said he is staying at Huddersfield

Laurie Whitwell Verified account ‏@lauriewhitwell 8m8 minutes ago

Hear David Wagner set to stay with Huddersfield despite #avfc interest. Committed to Champ table-toppers. Villa movement expected Monday

(Daily Mail reporter)

I hope to McGrath it's not woy! Bruce all day long over him. Don't do it doc plz

The Huddersfield chairman has said that Wagner has said he will never move to another Championship club. The question is, when did he say it? If it has been in the last week, then that almost certainly rules him out, but if it was months ago when there was seemingly no possibility of us looking for a manager then that's different. If of course he said it at all and in what sort of conversation/context. Surely if they're that confident then they'd say that he's definitely staying and has told them that this week.

Meanwhile the silence from David Wagner is deafening.......

Should just hire Rowett and get it over with.

smetro wrote:WM have just said that Wagner has said he is staying at Huddersfield

If that is true, it is only what I expected.
Just cannot see past Bruce which is unfortunate but I can see the reasoning especially short term!

achilles wrote:

smetro wrote:WM have just said that Wagner has said he is staying at Huddersfield

If that is true, it is only what I expected.
Just cannot see past Bruce which is unfortunate but I can see the reasoning especially short term!

I'd settle for Bruce, 1 year rolling contract with a big bonus for promotion

Maybe new manager's going to be a robot...

Dr. Tony Xia ‏@Dr_TonyXia 4m4 minutes ago
Dr. Tony Xia Retweeted Noel Murphy
Sorry that I won't be able to join becoz I'll have to give a keynote speech at the world AI&Robot Conference in BJ that day.

Dr X's tweet ends with "Our decision was nothing due to impatience."

For "nothing" I'm assuming he meant 'not'. Sounds like it's all done.

Not sure I'm going to relax much this weekend.

BillytheKid wrote:

4BetLite wrote:If Xia has access to Billions then we shouldn't worry about finances at all?

Dunno why, this is just a gut instinct but I think it will be Woy  

Funny you should say that was just about to post on here i reckon it will be Woy Hodgson

I posted last week that I think Woy is a good shout and I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned. I still think he's in the mix and also think he'd be a good manager for us, as long as he doesn't get Gestede taking corners for us...

What about Hiddink, what she up to these days? He loves a good pay day...

From 25 to 10 to 3 (not as reported) to 2

That suggests to me that the final decision hasn't been made yet, and also that what the press are reporting aren't the final 2. Which would rule out Bruce.

Dions_Bald_Head wrote:Dr X's tweet ends with "Our decision was nothing due to impatience."

For "nothing" I'm assuming he meant 'not'. Sounds like it's all done.

Not sure I'm going to relax much this weekend.

I took him to mean the sacking of RDM was not due to impatience or him getting angry at one bad result.

Wriggle wrote:From 25 to 10 to 3 (not as reported) to 2

That suggests to me that the final decision hasn't been made yet, and also that what the press are reporting aren't the final 2. Which would rule out Bruce.

That "not as reported" is very interesting. It would rule Bruce out. And fucking Sherwood.

If Wagner has been ruled out, could it be someone from the continent?

The club might also look at Woy as has been suggested if he had anything to do with youth development at the FA. But I'm really hoping it's not him.

And I'll laugh my arse off if @WendyOz picked it.

Dions_Bald_Head wrote:Dr X's tweet ends with "Our decision was nothing due to impatience."

For "nothing" I'm assuming he meant 'not'. Sounds like it's all done.

Not sure I'm going to relax much this weekend.

I wonder whether he was referring back to his decision to part company with RDM, or maybe even further back, to the decision to appoint him in the first place?

Very strange comment. If you say it was 'nothing to do with impatience', what does that mean? Maybe he's stating that he'd seen enough and knew it would never have come good with RDM in charge?

Which media outlets have reported that the list is down to two, and who did they report was last to drop off the list? Cos the Doc says they're still on the list! (Hope it's Wagner).

Villa Ranger wrote:

Dions_Bald_Head wrote:Dr X's tweet ends with "Our decision was nothing due to impatience."

For "nothing" I'm assuming he meant 'not'. Sounds like it's all done.

Not sure I'm going to relax much this weekend.

I wonder whether he was referring back to his decision to part company with RDM, or maybe even further back, to the decision to appoint him in the first place?

Very strange comment. If you say it was 'nothing to do with impatience', what does that mean? Maybe he's stating that he'd seen enough and knew it would never have come good with RDM in charge?

Which media outlets have reported that the list is down to two, and who did they report was last to drop off the list? Cos the Doc says they're still on the list! (Hope it's Wagner).

I read it that the selection they've made (ie the new manager) has not been rushed, just for the sake of getting someone in quick. I guess it could be in reference to the RDM sacking though.

There's something refreshing & quite charming to see unedited tweets from him, but sometimes it's like trying to decipher the Da Vinci code.

It's SO ridiculously fucking easy to get a job as a sports "reporter".

IF it is between Clarke and Bruce it suggests two things.

1. The board are considering continuity with an experienced guy who already knows all the players in the hope of not having to shuffle all the deck chairs again. And maybe with RDM out the way the players can show their true potential?

2. Or turn to a "safe pair of hands" in Steve Bruce. A man who has seen it and done it in the championship and is an expert at exactly what the board are craving which is promotion.

I think Round and Wyness have come to the conclusion that experience is the order of the day this time after having managers in recent times who hadn't managed a club for a long, sustained period. Sherwood had six months at Spurs, Remi Garde had just three seasons in football management and RDM's time as a manager was very much stop and start with him not having two whole seasons under his belt with one club.

TBH I can't blame the club for going for Bruce because if we look at it in the cold light of day we're a massive club yes, with everything in place to go up and take on the big boys with Xia's backing. But right now we're in 19th spot in the championship along with a support and board who are demanding performances and results. And if that doesn't happen then you won't last long. So is it any wonder that young managers would be intimidated about coming here? The bottom line is you either succeed or you're sacked, there's no middle ground here where you can start slow and maybe finish mid table with the hope of trying to push next season. Oh no, everyone knows what this club is chasing.

So on reflection getting an experienced head like Bruce would be the smart thing to do right now. Yes I would have loved a young foreign manager who could bring a new philosophy to the club etc but we tried that with Remi Garde and it was a disaster, so I can't complain tbh.

The only issue is who would be Bruce's number two? Clarke? Would be interesting because Erik Black is at Southampton now (thank McGrath ) and Mike Phelan is of course the Hull manager currently. I wonder if Giggs would be his assistant?

The Sun claiming it's Bruce's to lose but Clarke and Smith still in the race HERE

I'm actually not overly fussed about any of the names mentioned now tbh. I thought Wagner would be interesting in a way but also a risk to a point and the rest are, well, ...Meh! really.

I can see it being Bruce but worry about what reaction he'll get if the losing / not winning streak continues. Being ex Sha reduces his honeymoon period down substantially as we saw with McCleish and Black and with the state of our midfield i would fear for him.

Wagner has as much managerial experience as Tim bloody Sherwood did before coming here. Who lets remember had an impressive win ratio at Spurs. But after the dust had settled and the theatrics on the touchline grew old his tactical deficiencies were exposed on an epic level. Wagner hasn't faced adversity yet and come out of the other side. At this club we had a manager who took Norwich from league one to the premiership in two years and then kept them up, and he crumbled. We had a manager who was hailed as Wenger's "long-term replacement" and had helped rebuild Lyon's team when they were down financially. He turned out to be a bust. We had a manager who ticked several boxes having managed at a low and high level in the game, even winning the champions league and FA cup. He turned out to be a waste of time.

So the truth is we've had far more proven managers than the likes of Wagner, Smith, Johnson etc walk through those VP doors and not cut it. Going for experience now I think is the wise choice tbh. He might not be the fancy name that gets the old ticker excited but do we really need to be exciting in this division? The mission is to get out of this league as quickly as possible and once that happens we can then make a decision as to whether Bruce is the right man to lead us in the premiership. Lets remember Ranieri had failed several times before rocking up at Leicester guys, so anything is possible.

It's certainly looking more and more like it's going to be Steve Bruce. I can see the arguments for him but my heart, rightly or wrongly, wanted something more exciting. Then again I jumped on the OGS band wagon, so it's probably best I'm not a part of the process.

However on reading most of the articles on the subject they are all completely void of anything concrete at all. Behind the "Bruce in Villa Talks", headline we discover that he has been contacted by the club. Must be nailed on then! Similarly assuming Clarke is in the final list has no basis in real evidence. I would imagine the club can see the benefits of keeping him, but if they don't want him for the job, they are hardly going to shout it from the roof tops when they need to keep him on board to prepare the team for Wolves.

Yes the headlines are screaming Bruce, but the evidence is very much circumstantial. Ok I may be still clinging on to the hope we find someone more progressive and exciting, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

When are we going to create our playing style as a club and in the Southampton way have all our teams playing and training to the same standards and style? If Bruce comes in as an experienced manager with a mandate to get results, then will our style be led by what he implements in the pursuit of wins and draws?

What if he fails? Another manager, another playing style and more players whose style don't fit a new template or formation?

I have not seen much mention of this type of building an identity lately and I suspect that we're not really focussed long term in this regard yet.

It won't be Clarke, that I'm sure of. Bruce would be a mistake imo, but we'll see. No doubting he's good at getting teams promoted. And then relegated again.