Previous 6 managers to Bruce all currently out of work | Page 2 | Vital Football

Previous 6 managers to Bruce all currently out of work

You could sat that the nearly all the post-war era was blighted by the club not having the ability and/or the will to invest. Doug was tight but he was by no means the worst. Lerner was actually one of the bright lights until it became obvious that he didn't understand what the club needed and moreover was unable to provide it. The current owner seems willing to invest while not going over the top in terms of throwing cash at it, which is probably best for the club.

Some of our past "failures" have done better than you might think. Venglos was an imaginative appointment by Doug, trail-blazing, but it was too early. British footballers didn't understand things like diet, fitness, life-style and training to a purpose. Villa was just a blip on Vengos's long and mainly successful career.

Billy McNeill now sadly suffers from dementia. He had a reasonably successful 4-year stint at Celtic after he left us, if not quite as good as his first spell there. He took over Villa when we were already in fast decline.
 
Thank you BB. Trust you're well sir.

Good thread this. Set me thinking. You're right that in recent history Graham Taylor is arguably the only manager to leave us and enjoy better(?) days.

Going back a while, you'd have to say that Joe Mercer departed and embraced successful times and sunnier climes elsewhere. I still to this day regret us getting rid of Gentleman Joe. A big mistake.

He deserved his success at Manchester City, forming a great working relationship with the somewhat flamboyant Malcolm Allison.
 
Joe did a spell as caretaker England manager in the 70s after Revie cut and ran. He picked players like Alan Hudson, Frank Worthington and Keith Weller who never got a look in after he left. He got great results against Argentina and Germany as I remember.
 
Sacked upon recovering from a stroke. To be replaced by none other than....

Dick bloody Taylor!!!

No wonder we were relegated a couple of seasons later.
 
Loved jovial Joe and the way he played the game and managed his football teams.
As TheQ says sacked after coming back from illness. He had decided that he could no longer take on the training ground duties and wanted to bring in a talented young coach.

The board wouldn't have that and sacked him. Man City took him on and he brought in his coach Malcolm Alison. Mercer bought the likes of Bell Lee and Summerbee and City went up, won the league and cup, and we went the other way.

Could have been us although would the board have bought those players.

As always happens someone on a board (Ellis springs to mind ) decides he knows it all and wants Alison to take over from joe. Joe is sacked Aliison becomes manager and it's all over for City.
 
Joe Mercer was the manager for my first game in '63, so I assume, hopefully correctly, he signed my first no.9 hero Tony Hateley, Big Tone as he was known. I seem to recall Joe also was responsible for the " Mercer Minors" like Mick Wright, Alan Deakin, John Sleeuwenhoek, Charlie Aitken and Mike Tindall.....there's probably more. What a shame we discarded him shamefully after his illness, he showed his capabilities at Man City.....what might have been eh?
 
'63 - remember those days. Joe was a breath of fresh air wherever he went. Mercer's Minors were great. When Joe took on the England job temporarily he was the same as ever, both relaxed and positive. Just right, it showed in the play. He enjoyed it, the players enjoyed it, the fans enjoyed it. Wasn't interested in the job permanently, said not for him at his age. One of our best managers ever.
 
Don't forget Harry Burrows, Derek Dougan and Mr. Aston Villa...Charlie Aitken.

All signed by Mercer.

And although Gerry Hitchens was already at the club when Mercer arrived, there's no denying Mercer got the best out of him before he departed for Italy.
 
Also right wing pair Norman Ashe and Alan Baker. Skilfull inside left jimmy McMorran and the one that got away George Graham.
And who can forget Lew Chatterley's Lover.
Joe managed to get the money £30,000 for Phil Woosnam but lamented "We just can't afford a Denis Law"

If only they had backed him and not sacked him.
 
McParlandTheGreat - 3/11/2017 12:12

Randy should have made McAllister manager with Houllier DOF. He knew who the wasters were and they'd have gone, and he had enough contacts to replace them with decent players at not too high a price. Think of it, Gabby out 6 years ago!
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Don't agree about McAllister but keeping Houllier at the club in some capacity would have been beneficial to us. He had the right ideas and identified some of our problems long before anyone else did. He was probably past it as a manager but his all round knowledge of the game is excellent
 
Fulford - 2/11/2017 20:04

Houllier is in a job at Red Bull
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Yeah, I'd read that as out of work management wise though. Few of the others do a bit of media etc as well so effectively aren't 'out of work' but they aren't managers.
 
glensider - 3/11/2017 15:19

We've appointed wrong guys at the wrong time, managers who were destined to fail from the moment they initially strode through the Villa Park entrance door, mainly due to incompatibility and/or ability issues, .
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Spot on. People say we've sacked way tooooo many managers. Nope, we've appointed far too many not right for the job.

:35:
 
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