Aston Villa's Manager Situation

Seems like Benitez is out of the running too. Unfortunate for you GDeep. Seems he wanted a transfer kitty of £30m which Lerner just didn't want to do.

New favourite is Martinez. Would be a good manager and have access to better players and funds than he had at Wigan. If he is appointed, I see it as a sign that Villa are looking to develop a passing style and will mean they are taking a longer term view. Will probably mean cutting Martinez greater slack in his first season, but conversely seeing an exodus of those players who want to be at the top.

Yeah, it's all about Martinez now. I've liked him since his Swansea days, but I can understand Stevo's misgivings.

Allegedly Rijkaard('s agent) told them he would be available too.

Must be depserate.

Martinez in talks with Villa apparently. Good move for him but I don't think it is for Villa.

I think once he settles in and gets his head around being at a pretty big club, he'll do a very good, long-term job at Villa.

Hopefully Lerner gives him some money to spend.

Rumour is he's turned us down.

I wasn't sure about him anyway. He MIGHT have been good, but it would be a huge gamble.
He's taken wigan backwards, and was 15 minutes away from being relegated. Would we have approached him if they'd gone down? I bet we wouldn't.

I've given up trying to figure this one out. The one ITK I always trust doesn't know anything about this. He said he had a feeling Villa were aiming big, which was why he hadn't heard anything, but that was just a hunch.

Basically, no-one knows anything.

What I do know though, is that Randy lerner's jet left Birmingham airport this morning. No-one knows where it went, but I doubt he was flying to Wigan.

Back to America?

Anyway, the problem you have, and I mean no disrespect, is that you aren't a very desirable club right now. Talk of Ancelotti or Benitez was crazy talk, it was never going to happen, not in a million years. Martinez would (may still be) a good candidate. Sure he doesn't come with the big reputation, but he's shown he can get teams playing good winning football on a shoestring. Okay, Wigan nearly went down, but the fact is they did not. He worked a minor miracle to keep that God awful squad in the League, on a budget few other managers in this League would even consider working under. He didn't have better players than West ham or Birmingham, but he was the one that managed to pull that extra little bit out of his players and keep the club in the League at the end of it all.

If it's true that he's turned you down, then I think he's crazy. Whelan may have succeeded in convincing him he's on his way to the top regardless, but to turn down the opportunity to move up at least a couple of levels in class at this point in his career is a big risk, a chance that might never come again, who knows?

Why not take O'Neill back?

Don't know much about why he left last season, but if it was down to differences between him and the owner, I'm sure both can clear that out for the good of the club.

Suprising if Martinez turned the job down, don't think he'll get a better chance to prove himself. Maybe he felt Wigan was a secure job while Villa was a risk with the threat of key players leaving. Still seems strange to me though.

Don't think Martinez taken Wigan backwards, he is rebuilding the whole team to his own attacking philosophy, takes time. He had some great buys already, would come good in the future.

Why not take O'Neill back?

Don't know much about why he left last season, but if it was down to differences between him and the owner, I'm sure both can clear that out for the good of the club.

O'Neill left because he wanted money to carry on being Benitez MK II. If they didn't want the real Benitez why would they want a Benitez wannabe?

Don't think Martinez taken Wigan backwards, he is rebuilding the whole team to his own attacking philosophy, takes time. He had some great buys already, would come good in the future.

He neither took them forward nor took them backwards. Wigan finished 2007/2008 in 11th place but in the summer of 2008 they sold Valencia and Cattermole, and since then they finished 2 seasons in 16th. He's trending water but considering how little resources were given to him that's an achievement already. But probably not an achievement big enough to justify him as Villa manager if that club is "aiming high".

Why not take O'Neill back?

Don't know much about why he left last season, but if it was down to differences between him and the owner, I'm sure both can clear that out for the good of the club.

O'Neill left because he wanted money to carry on being Benitez MK II. If they didn't want the real Benitez why would they want a Benitez wannabe?

I thought O'Neil did well with the funds that were given to him, but he needed a bit more to make the final step (after a couple of breakdowns in the second half of the seasons), and Lerner refused that (I assume) for whatever reasons.
He's finished three times in the Top 6 - not that bad an outcome if you ask me.

It's funny somehow, because Houllier got money last winter to buy Bent who's far from being a bargain?

Why not take O'Neill back?

Don't know much about why he left last season, but if it was down to differences between him and the owner, I'm sure both can clear that out for the good of the club.

O'Neill left because he wanted money to carry on being Benitez MK II. If they didn't want the real Benitez why would they want a Benitez wannabe?

I thought O'Neil did well with the funds that were given to him, but he needed a bit more to make the final step (after a couple of breakdowns in the second half of the seasons), and Lerner refused that (I assume) for whatever reasons.
He's finished three times in the Top 6 - not that bad an outcome if you ask me.

It's funny somehow, because Houllier got money last winter to buy Bent who's far from being a bargain?

Aston Villa is not Chelsea, 20 million per season on transfers for 4 seasons is a lot of money. O'Neil almost drove the club broke, and they are now paying the price for it. The Bent signing was financed by them selling Milner, and I would imagine selling that overrated Young will give them some money to spend too, but Downing might be leaving too and he would be a much bigger blow than losing Young.

I predicted on the first page Martinez will probably turn Villa down if they came calling, with his history with Dave Whelan and with Whelans comments a couple of weeks ago about him leaving if Martinez is sacked, it was highly likely Martinez would repay the faith shown in him by staying put... for now.

Hughes will probably get the job. Villa should have enquired about Moyes from the start, no point now, no way will Moyes be interested after seeing Lerner go for quite a few other managers before him.

Aston Villa is not Chelsea, 20 million per season on transfers for 4 seasons is a lot of money. O'Neil almost drove the club broke, and they are now paying the price for it. The Bent signing was financed by them selling Milner, and I would imagine selling that overrated Young will give them some money to spend too, but Downing might be leaving too and he would be a much bigger blow than losing Young.

Fair points.
I thought Lerner, as their owner, had money left to spend and decided to do so, during O'Neil's reign there.

Martinez is now levante manager

It's a different Martinez.

There are far too many out there, whose surnames are "Martinez".

ups sorry guys i think its was him

Martinez was never offered the job. He just chose not to talk to us. Whelan made more of it than it was. I'm glad to be honest as I didn't want Martinez.

Would never want O'Neill back after he ****** us over.

All roads point towards Moyes now. Allegedly will cost us £7m in compensation. Only itk rumours at the moment though.

Oh by the way, randy's jet went to Corsica. Houllier has a house there so it can be assumed the trip revolved around Houllier (visit, lift home for Houllier, something like that)

Dodged a bullet with Hughes, very ordinary manager and Villa deserve better.

Moyes would do well there.

Moyes will go to Villa after what he did so much with Everton?

Don't know if it's the right career move for Moyes, seems like a sideways step. Bigger budget at Villa though, that could tempt him.

Definitely a sideways step. Everton have the better players...especially if Villa are going to lose a couple of their big names this summer.

I don't think Moyes would want to give up what he has with Everton, would Villa's budget really be big enough to tempt him to switch?

Apparently McLeish is now the bookies' favourite to take the Villa job, can't imagine that would sit well with the Villa support.

Everton may have seemingly bigger players, but they are under very tight financial constraints making heavy losses even if they are amongst the lower spenders in the league. They consistently need to sell layers before they can buy/re-invest in their existing players. It is for that reason that Baines and co have been mooted for summer moves.

While Villa may be losing their bigger names, they are not under pressure financially to sell and that would make Moyes' job of building a capable squad much easier. I don't think it would be a step sideways from Everton to Villa. I really respect the work Moyes has done at Everton and think that he will at least get the opportunity to prove whether he can do a job at a bigger club, even if its not a top 6 one.

The type of candidates linked, interviewed and actually appointed in the case of Houllier give me the impression that they are after a manager with PL experience. I believe Moyes would be a far better bet than McLeish, but I just thought of Ian Holloway as a random potential as well. Did very well with Blackpool even if they did get relegated and is used to working with very tight budgets.

McLeish being favourite is bullshit. Will never happen.

Villa have a "keep quiet or all bets are off" policy it would appear. So my guess is no one will know anything until it happens. And if anything does come out (eg the Whelan interview) then it's likely to be leading nowhere

i'd go for ian holloway if i were them

Saw a link to Coyle in the Sun earlier. I think he has the potential to be a very good manager and could be the type of guy they go for.