Is there a former manager you'd rather have than Bruce?

mike_field

Vital Football Legend & Fun Sponge
We can all name manager's we'd probably like to replace Steve Bruce. The new manager thread is full of suggestions and even Bruce's most ardent fan would at least think twice if Pep Guardiola suddenly declared his love.

So just for giggles and a way to avoid work - I may or may not do something with it for the frontend.

Is there a manager from our past you'd rather see in the hotseat now?

It's not really intended to be pro or anti Bruce or former managers - Bruce is being done to death in his thread and former managers have been done to death.

Obviously though there are elements as to why you'd like X instead - memories of results, attitude of the group, tactics, feel good feeling that stands out etc as well as why you think X would be more suited to us now instead of Bruce.
 
I think I'm not alone in dreaming of the day when MON returns. Unshackled from the penny pinching ways of Lerner, MON would be able to restore our beloved club to glory.
 
Ron Saunders, however most of the players would fuck off rather than play for a manager who demanded 110% effort 100% of the time.

There would have been no Villa Gate Incident ...... he would have hitched a rope to the gates and ripped them out the ground...
 
I think I'm not alone in dreaming of the day when MON returns. Unshackled from the penny pinching ways of Lerner, MON would be able to restore our beloved club to glory.

I think you need to go look at the "Lerner Spend" then look at all the shit players Martin O'Neill bought and the quality players he let go....

Cahill, Albrighton, Gardner the list of good players lost ....
Balanced by the shit players he brought in, Marlon Harewood NRC ....

Let leave Monnny and his money wasting on the back burner, he has done nothing of note since leaving Villa.

Martin O'Neill was sacked by Sunderland on 30 March 2013 following a 1–0 defeat by Manchester United which left the team one point above the Premier League relegation zone with seven games left to play in the season. Sunderland had failed to secure victory in the eight matches leading up to O'Neill's departure, winning only three points out of a possible 24 during that spell
 
Albrighton was under Lambert.

MON just needed to sell his stockpile that he would never use and cash would've been fine.
 
In todays modern football world, no not a single one of them.

Brian Little was a good manager but way too nice, he'd be run ragged by todays modern footballer.

Ron Saunders wouldn't get away with shouting at todays players. The players have too much power.

Big Ron in his prime would probably be the best choice in this modern world so would potentially have him back, but I love Brucey, so I'm keeping him.
 
John Gregory is
I think I'm not alone in dreaming of the day when MON returns. Unshackled from the penny pinching ways of Lerner, MON would be able to restore our beloved club to glory.

Biggest spenders in Europe the one season under MON, money provided by Lerner.

The one thing he can't be accused of during the MON reign was penny pinching.

It ended badly, but the guy spent a fortune and fine, the way it ended, we now have to say badly.

Will Xia spend anywhere near the same amount of his money that Randy did? Time will tell, arguing over renewing the pitch (because it had won pitch of the year but was 11 years into a 10 year life span) when it was needed doesn't bode well. Now that IS penny pinching.
 
I do wonder what man manager John Gregory could do.

The ones before him, loved Brian Little, Ron Saunders, Tony Barton and Ron Saunders. All for obvious reasons. Oh and Big Ron. But no, not for now.
 
I don't think Ron Saunders would last 10 minutes in today's game managing the way he did. Mind you being the clever , astute bloke he was he would have realised he would have to adapt , but whether he would want to is a different matter.

I think Brian Little would do a decent job in todays world.
 
Mike I'm not having a pop but the thread is basically think of your favourite all time villa manager and compare him to Bruce . Just seems like another unnecessary opportunity to knock Bruce.
Anyway , for me Bruce is up there as one of my favourites given what he's achieved.
 
I think you need to go look at the "Lerner Spend" then look at all the shit players Martin O'Neill bought and the quality players he let go....

Cahill, Albrighton, Gardner the list of good players lost ....
Balanced by the shit players he brought in, Marlon Harewood NRC ....

Let leave Monnny and his money wasting on the back burner, he has done nothing of note since leaving Villa.

Martin O'Neill was sacked by Sunderland on 30 March 2013 following a 1–0 defeat by Manchester United which left the team one point above the Premier League relegation zone with seven games left to play in the season. Sunderland had failed to secure victory in the eight matches leading up to O'Neill's departure, winning only three points out of a possible 24 during that spell

Albrighton broke through under Houllier. Gardner is still shit. MON bought Ashley Young, James Milner and Downing. He also bought Carew.

£20m per season just wasn't going to cut it when the top players were going for £80m.

If Randy had had some ambition, we could have been champions of Europe again by now.
 
With regard to MON what I would say is that every game we played, no matter who the opposition I always felt we were in with a shout.
Every time the team ran out on to the pitch there was an air of confidence and belief about them that spilt over to the supporters and it fed of itself.
And as BB says above all on £20m net spend.
Oh and the answer to the question is Big Ron.
 
"Is there a former manager you'd rather have than Bruce?"

No, not really. That's not to say I particularly want Bruce, but he's doing ok, so let him get on with it.

Anyway, as Melon will no doubt agree, none of our former managers are young enough or hungry enough these days...
 
I think you need to go look at the "Lerner Spend" then look at all the shit players Martin O'Neill bought and the quality players he let go....

Cahill, Albrighton, Gardner the list of good players lost ....
Balanced by the shit players he brought in, Marlon Harewood NRC ....

Let leave Monnny and his money wasting on the back burner, he has done nothing of note since leaving Villa.

Martin O'Neill was sacked by Sunderland on 30 March 2013 following a 1–0 defeat by Manchester United which left the team one point above the Premier League relegation zone with seven games left to play in the season. Sunderland had failed to secure victory in the eight matches leading up to O'Neill's departure, winning only three points out of a possible 24 during that spell


Must admit, I thought BB was taking the piss, at least I HOPE so :shake:
 
Enjoyed the first few MON seasons, but had reached the end of the road. No plan B, signing players that weren't improving us, losing the better players, thought he was bigger than the club. The way he went told you what you needed to know. Good few seasons but his time was up. What occurred after he left does not make him great, it makes the club leadership at the time catastrophic.
 
Won't play the "versus Bruce" game; think it's not appropriate. I judge Bruce solely by what happens with us on the pitch, not compared to some past manager.

But if Bruce wasn't here, and we needed a past manager, at the age they were then? Difficult. Vic Crowe, Brian Little, Ron Atkinson? I'd be tempted by Houllier but at a younger age. Think I'd go for Big Ron.