Aston Villa v Everton: reflection

I was at Villa Park two days ago for what has been reported as one of Villa’s worst performances for decades.

Harsh? No, not in my opinion.

Lack of Premier League experience sees Villa fall fowl

Football’s a game where too many opinions can be drawn from one game. Robbie Savage will be happy with his prediction that Villa will go down this season. Alex McLeish will insist after Villa’s opening game that the claret and blue army need more
players. One of those is correct.

Yes, controversial as this might be, but big eck had a point. One that actually we all agree with, at the same time as knowing the Scot is a poor manager, also correct.

Guest Blog: Aston Villa’s Next Manager

As the hunt for a new manager seems to be in full swing, with a new favourite every day, @kerrylynn21 shares her thoughts on how the Midlands’ biggest club (!) should approach the appointment.

At the moment, despite what the latest odds are saying, there’s been no official statements of intent from the Board or the club and no informing the fans of how the manager search is being conducted. This however is no surprise for many Villa fans: the club and the fans are two separate entities at present – the connection between the two has been worn down so far it’s practically non-existent.

Aston Villa: square pegs round holes

Yesterday I met an old football manager who will remain nameless. The reason is because it’s what he said not who said it that’s important (kinda).

We were discussing how he left one of his previous managerial posts and how he’d implemented his style on the team, actually on the club but not had enough time to see it through. It was quite a change from top to bottom, from training, the coaching staff, who he picked, how they played and so on. But this was/is how he operated at every club he has/will manage.

Guest Blog: Is Steve Bruce’s exit part of a new cycle?

Whilst reading this article from Phil McNulty I started thinking that the cycle that Sunderland are going through rang true a little, like I’d read the blog before, and like I could really connect and felt sorry for Sunderland fans and the situation their club is in. I came to the conclusion that Bruce’s exit is a sign of what may well now be the norm for clubs such as Sunderland.

This is the cycle which Villa, Everton, even Spurs to an extent (obviously less now than in the past) will go through. Work hard, sign good players, create a happy squad with a few star players. Inevitably, with the money the big guns have we’ll see them now circle to sign these players, turning their heads and offering large contracts: Bent; Henderson in Sunderland’s case; Downing and Young in Villa’s; potentially (despite a new contract) Fallaini at Everton; and Modric at Spurs (if it wasn’t for Levy digging his heels in). They then leave and the re-building starts again. Other players question the ambition of the club and the harmony is broken. Results suffer, Chairmen are impatient and the manager is sacked, simply to start the cycle again.

Guest Blog: What’s your favourite football chant? [Part 1]

One of the best and worst things about football, in my opinion, is the fans. The good: they follow their team without a thought – bad form, bad weather, bad players or a a bad manager, nothing will put fans off supporting their club. The bad: they can have ridiculous expectations towards their team, they can chant foul things and they can have one too many beer and have a fight after the match. But we do know that the one thing fans always bring to any match, home or away, is a football chant. This week the Cooler Editors bring you their favourite football chants, and here is part 1, from Editor-in-Chief, George. We’ve tried to stick to one for our club and one from another.

My best from my team has to be Villa at Liverpool, singing “Let’s pretend we’ve scored a goal, let’s pretend we’ve scored a goal…. <cue noises of elation>”

Guest Blog: “Villa til I die” – The Most Worrying Thing About Aston Villa

I was going to post this on a Villa Blog I visit regularly, but decided that as I run a blog of my own I would dedicate a post to it.

It is a worrying time for a lot of Villa fans at the moment, or an angry time too.

I personally like to try and take a positive view on what happens at Villa Park. Many don’t, it seems. Many don’t like the appointment of McLeish for one reason or another. Whether it’s because he managed the Blues, the football his teams have played in the past, or a few who think it’s contradictory to a plan set out at the start of last season to bring through our youngsters and play attacking football.

Many think the problem is with our Chairman making cut backs, issuing a sell-to-buy policy and claiming he’s not as interested as he once was, or less capable now of achieving a top four finish we all thought he’d strive for for years. He’s lost his passion, or love for Villa. Some fans even claim he is taking as much money from Villa before selling the club in a few years time. There are many theories doing the rounds.

I personally think that we could have done a lot worse than McLeish; I’d challenge someone to suggest a realistic, “better”, alternative. It’s also crucial that Randy Lerner has appointed a manager who buys in to the way he wants to run the club for the future harmony and stability of the club. OK, so McLeish has a track record of playing dour football might be a downside, but we leaked goals last season and everyone complained about that too, so there’s no winning there. Finally, for what it’s worth, the fact that Randy Lerner wants to strip the wage bill before re-investing is absolutely the right decision. We’ve too much dead wood and why should he re-invest before buying new players? Fans are too quick to forget about the renovations and investments he’s already made on players, the Holte End (below), the training ground, the Holte Pub, etc.

In mulling over how to best post a comment on another blog I decided that the biggest problem with yesterday’s draw which wasn’t the result we would have hoped for, or for many Villa fans, expected. I decided that the key word is within that sentence is expected and the expectations of (some) Villa fans. Within that is the low, if not unsurprising, attendance at yesterday’s match, a West Midlands Derby, might I add.

Yesterday’s attendance was 30,776. That’s just over 11,000 empty seats. My question is not why, but what. What do Villa fans think they are achieving? Do they think by not going Randy will sack the manager? Suddenly invest tens of millions of pounds on players? Strangely backtrack on his salary cap? I would highly doubt all of those. One thing I am sure of is that if a 42,000 strong Villa Park faithful was present yesterday I would have felt more confident of us getting a victory. If, in the second half, Villa were playing towards a packed Holte End we would have had a better chance of our team nicking a winner.

I’ve said many times before that fans are of course willing to do what they like, they pay the money to watch the team. But if you didn’t go yesterday I’d like to know why. Not because you have to explain to me, but because I’d be interested.

If you didn’t go out of protest, maybe have a think back to the last time you sang “Villa til I die” and think about why you sang that.

 

 

George – Editor in Chief – @gwoffer

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Blog: Randy Lerner, Aston Villa Chairman

With Villa’s first pre-season out of the way and the dust settled (ish) on McLeish’s appointement, Villa fan Tom B reacts to the many fans who have started to question Randy Lerner after what has been a tough 12 months for Villa fans. I asked our Villa friend whether Lerner is dedicated or even able to bring Champions League football to Villa? Here’s his response:

Randy Lerner – “Never forget where [he’s] coming from” [Yes I quoted Take That on a sports blog!]

A good number of Villa fans have started to ask questions of Randy Lerner. The parting of company with Martin O’Neill was considered a catastrophe, the decision to hire Gerard Houllier a questionable one, and for some, the hiring of McLeish is downright insanity. But this is all based on a view of the man and the club which I am just not sure is right. We all think we support a big club, we all think our club should be higher in the league, and for teams like Villa who have seen moderate success over the years the aspiration is always the Champions League. The fact Villa have not, and in my opinion will not, get there riles some fans.

I think Randy Lerner’s success or otherwise can only be judged when we bear these 4 things in mind:

1. Doug Ellis sold Villa to Lerner, and that says something about Lerner himself.
2. Lerner’s ownership pedigree with the Cleveland Browns.
3. Football is a business, and as such realism rules.
4. Martin O’Neill was not employed by Randy Lerner.

On 1, “Deadly” Doug Ellis was notorious for keeping a tight grip on the purse strings of Villa – and I have nothing but admiration for that. He did invest, he did develop the club, and he did it all keeping the club financially safe. In this day and age, that is the biggest responsibility of any owner. When Doug announced he was going to be looking for a new owner, he said he would only sell the club to the right person. Given what every Villa fan knows about Doug Ellis, what type of person did we think was going to end up charge? Lerner, in my humble opinion, will continue what Doug Ellis did. He will invest, he will develop the club, but he won’t do that at the expense of the club’s long term future. And I for one am happy about that. 

On 2, Lerner is known as a solid, if not somewhat unspectacular owner of the Browns. He inherited the Browns when his father died, and whilst the team are not the most successful, they are considered in general to be well run. So Lerner has experience to steering a stable (sports) ship – that should be respected.

Which brings me to point 3, let’s be realistic here Villa fans. What do we really want? Do we want to be Leeds United and ride a crest of excitement to fall into oblivion? That is certainly not meant to be disrespectful to Leeds United – I can’t wait to see them back in the Premier League – but the trade-off here, when a club is not owned by a Sheik, is between the Champions League and long term stability. As dull as it sounds, I choose stability.

On 4, Doug Ellis’s passing shot as he left Villa Park was to instate Martin O’Neill. At the time this seemed like an amazing coup. Not only had we got one of the best managers in the game, but we were getting a new rich American owner, we were on the up. What we all forgot, is that for a club to be successful, perhaps the most critical relationship is between the owner and the manager. Great examples are Kenwright and Moyes, Martinez and Whelan.

O’Neill and Lerner, no matter what anyone says to the contrary, did not get on and had different views of how to move the club forward, and so the relationship was always going to go wrong. Lerner inherited O’Neill, I don’t think you can blame him for how that ended. 

So with this in mind, let’s consider Lerner’s big decisions. He decided to stop backing Martin O’Neill’s purchasing when we had had three seasons of finishing sixth and not making the Champions League. That was done at a time when City’s spending was going through the roof and Tottenham were not far behind and had made some great signings. O’Neill on the other hand had paid over the odds for a lot of young English players and left half of those kicking around in the reserves. Lerner was not seeing a return on his investment, so he pulled the investment – a REALISTIC business decision.

Next he employed Houllier. A risk, yes, but he was a manager who shared a belief and values system with Lerner and by all accounts the two got on well. That is to say, he was trying to build the close connection required for long term success and stability. Houllier took a while to bed in, primarily in my view because of how O’Neill left the club, and some of his senior players behaved in a disgraceful way, throwing their toys out of the pram because life under Houllier was different to that under O’Neill! But towards the end of the season it was coming good – and Lerner spent big and decisively in bringing in Darren Bent. So here, in my mind, his mistake was the risk on Houllier’s health – but he is not a doctor and let’s be honest, Houllier is a grown-up and can make his own decisions.

Finally, he has brought in McLeish. Controversial, yes. Out of touch with the fans, possibly. A good decision, it remains to be seen. McLeish’s record is mixed. But again I think Lerner is looking for that long term stable relationship with a manager he respects and who shares his values system. Time will tell if it is going to work out.

All in all I think Lerner is doing a good job for the long term future of Villa. Is that a dull way of looking at progress and the job of a Chairman? Maybe. But I think we all need to remember we are not all Manchester United. Our own team’s “rightful” place is not by definition the Champions League. We are not all “Big Clubs” if you define that by trophies and champions league spots. I say well done Lerner, let’s all be realistic, and let’s keep Villa a top flight club for the next 30 years.

Tom’s quickfire:

Sign one player: Shay Given (done!)

Sell one player: Hesky or maybe just give him away.

Happy with your manager: On the fence. It will either prove to be inspirational from Lerner (which I have a little feeling might be the case), or a disaster. Right now, there is nothing to judge him on.

If your second kit could be one colour what would it be: Pink – real men wear pink!

Favourite player ever: Paul McGrath or Dion Dublin…..don’t make me choose.

Worst player ever: Bosko Balaban.

Another cracking and thought-provoking guest blog. Let us know your thoughts below.

Guest Blog: Wolves fan on What the Eck is going on at Villa

This morning saw the appointment of Alex McLeish as Aston Villa manager. The team I support and love. Some thoughts from Villa fans have frustrated me; the graffiti, the protesting, quotes of a “dark day” for Villa and so on seem extreme. It’s clear that fans of the claret and blue will either feel OK about the hiring – I’m in this bracket – or feel worse and worse still. This led me to get the opinion of someone not attached to the club, but connected through geography. Here’s how @simonlansley sees it.

Wolves fan on What the Eck is going on at Villa

There was a brief moment of Black Country solidarity this week when a West Brom fan told me that he (and by inference, me) was “loving mocking the Villa fans” via Twitter.

The mighty Villa, the undisputed kings of West Midlands football for the last three decades, were on the brink of appointing the manager who had just got their most hated rivals relegated, and the Brummies were revolting. In style.

Except I hadn’t been mocking the Villa fans…. In fact I genuinely think the mob mentality has overridden some basic facts.

Is Alex McLeish a good manager? Fairly subjective question – he enjoyed great success with Motherwell (runners-up in the SPL, which is no mean feat), Hibs (Cup runners-up), Rangers (easy, say Villa fans) and went on to manage Scotland (doesn’t count, say England fans – despite his side beating France in Paris and only failing to reach the 2010 World Cup after being beaten in a decider by Italy, who qualified). Then we come to his Blues period.

Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League at the end of McLeish’s first six months at St Andrews, despite a defiant 4-1 win over Blackburn on the final day of the season. The first blot on McLeish’s managerial copybook perhaps – although within 12 months they were back in the top flight at the first time asking.

So the jury was out – was McLeish a good manager? Well surely his first full Premier League season in charge answered that. Buoyed by some inspired signings (notably Championship defenders Scott Dann and Roger Johnson), the Blues quickly took to life in the top flight and the Scot was named manager of the month for December 2009. There was a measure of good fortune too with McLeish setting a Premier League record by naming the same starting XI for nine successive games  on the way to finishing ninth, the club’s best achievement for over half a century. (If that sounds vaguely familiar to the acne-ridden members of the mob on the steps of Villa Park, it’s because your fine club won the League title using just 14 players – YES, FOURTEEN – in 1981…. See what a decent manager can do if his team stays injury free?)

Note at this point: Alex McLeish, it’s roundly agreed, is a VERY GOOD MANAGER. Blues finish the season only three places behind Villa and club is on an upward trajectory. The Scot is rewarded with a new three-year contract and it appears all is well.

Even throughout the early stages of last season, there isn’t too much to get worried about – there’s draws against Liverpool and Manchester City, narrow defeat to Arsenal but victory over Chelsea. Champions elected Manchester United are held 1-1 in a pulsating game at St Andrew’s in late December, and shortly afterwards Villa are put to the sword as Blues dare to reach the Carling Cup final.

On that day at the end of February, all Bluenoses are in dreamland. We local rivals can’t even sing ‘You’ve never won **** all’ to their fans anymore (excuse the double negative but it scans) as Arsenal are beaten in a glorious day for team spirit and camaraderie at Wembley.

But had McLeish achieved too much too soon? Days after that Cup final success, a leggy City side made West Brom look like Brazil as the Baggies won 3-1 at St Andrew’s. 5-0 defeats at Manchester United and Liverpool had exposed a tired and weary team, but still Blues kept right on and looked a safe bet to stay up.

Sadly for them, this was the most closely-fought relegation battle for many years and McLeish’s squad had not been thinking enough about the trapdoor opening up underneath them. His fault? Possibly, but also surely the ramifications of reaching too high, too soon.

I was a gibbering wreck at Molineux on the final day of the season. With Wolves 3-0 down at half-time against Blackburn, I was so angry – I felt we deserved to go down, and frankly that Birmingham deserved to stay up. They had been above us all season. Replay the manic celebrations in the away end at Spurs when Craig Gardner’s thumping drive put Blues back above the dotted line – this was a club happy with its manager and looking to build on that rare trophy triumph…. if it could just survive this last-day hell.

Of course one goal swung it. Not Pavlyuchenko’s but Hunt’s for Wolves. That sent Birmingham down and I, along with all the other Yam Yams, was more relieved than happy. There were some pretty touching scenes as the Blues fans and players clapped each other off the pitch at White Hart Lane.

But with West Ham leaderless (at least until Allardyce’s appointment), I still felt McLeish was the man to help Blues bounce back next season. Two very good seasons for a club I do not easily associate with success and trophies, had gone pear-shaped right at the death.

Managers prove their mettle over years, not months. So I’ll say it again – is Alex McLeish a good manager? Well, yes I think  he’s pretty good for all the medals he can put on the table. Does he deserve to step up a level? That’s debatable – but one thing is for sure, if Roberto Martinez has looked at the Villa vacancy and said ‘no thanks’, then Randy Lerner is not spoiled for choice.

Who knows how the conversations have gone with Mark Hughes and others? (Presuming there have been conversations). If Martinez doesn’t fancy it, then I expect there’s good reason why the likes of Owen Coyle aren’t in the running. Breaking news for the Villa fans: you’ve fallen down the pecking order and demonstrating against the club outside the stadium is hardly likely to endear you, as a group of fans, to any other potential managers – never mind your own rich American owner, who must feel like another Hicks/Gillett/Glazer right now.

We all live for those joyous moments in football, the likes of which McLeish gave to Blues fans at Wembley at the end of February. However in general, our beloved game is incredibly frustrating and the definition of ‘supporting’ is being able to deal with disappointment and trying to fight back in a positive manner.

Furthermore I’m convinced the highs are higher if they’re less frequent – that’s why I support Wolves, not Manchester United. The Villa fans I know all know this, and were squirming as the scenes unfolded on Sky Sports News this week. They’re not overly enamoured with McLeish but they also know Villans can’t be choosers right now; that the Scot had been on an upward trajectory until fairly recently, and they don’t want to make things worse for the club by protesting in public.

They also know if he turns out to be a successful Villa manager, they got him from Blues.

Thanks to @simonlansley for a great guest blog. Let us know what you think below.

George – Editor-in-Chief – Villa Fan – @gwoffer

Guest Blog: Who says close season is boring?

Close season a bad time to start a football blog? Never. Although the summer hasn’t yet brought the signings that I, as a Gooner, am desperately hoping for, the close season’s managerial comings and goings have delivered more than a little excitement for football-starved fans – and it’s only mid-June.  

The season hadn’t even come to an end when West Ham decided enough was enough, and bid farewell to Avram Grant, who had led the club to relegation after a torrid season of bleak underperformance. Carlo Ancelloti, whose second place finish with Chelsea was deemed simply not good enough by impatient Roman Abramovich, was next to go, not long after the dust had settled on the final day of the season.  West Ham acted quickly, appointing Sam Allardyce a couple of weeks after Grant’s departure, and with the signing of Kevin Nolan revealed yesterday, things seem to be looking up for the Hammers – although it’s hard to see how they could have got much worse. The manager’s berth at Chelsea remains empty, although the smart money is on Guus Hiddink to fill the role, with Chelsea fans clamouring for his arrival and the Turkey national team resigned to his departure.

But things hadn’t even got interesting yet. On 1^st June, Gerard Houllier announced that his ongoing health problems meant he was stepping down from his role as Aston Villa manager. And the very next day, Mark Hughes left Fulham. To join Villa, surely? The Football Water Cooler’s George certainly hoped so. And yet, whilst Fulham quickly replaced Hughes with Martin Jol, securing the man whose services they had wanted a year ago, the Villa job remains open. Steve McClaren was ruled out of the role, with Villa owner Randy Lerner nervous about his club being the first to bring McClaren back to English football. No such compunction for Nottingham Forest, who, after Billy Davies’ departure a few days ago, swooped to secure the services of the man who just might be getting close to shedding the ‘wally with the brolly’ tag that has haunted him since his days with the national team. On the same day that Davies left Forest, McLeish was out the door at Birmingham, whose future, with the Championship looming amid an uncertain financial backdrop, is looking somewhat bleak.

All eyes now then, are on the manager’s role at Villa. With Roberto Martinez having decided against the job in favour of staying at Wigan, who he kept in the Premiership on the last day of the season, it looks today that a deal is going to be done to bring McLeish to Villa Park. Fans yesterday held protests against the appointment of the former Blues boss, and yet it looks today that the move is going to happen. Not only are at least a vocal minority of the fans deeply unhappy at the idea of appointing the former boss of their most deadly rivals, who just got them relegated to boot, but the fallout from a potential deal looks set to be severe, with Birmingham accusing Villa of “tapping up” McLeish.

So, whilst my initial idea for this blog post was to list the clubs with managerial vacancies, and assess who they wanted and who I thought they’d get, things have moved so quickly that Birmingham is the only high-profile club around whose managerial vacancy there is a little bit of uncertainty, with a host of young managers such as Chris Hughton, Billy Davies, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola all possibilities. In fairness though, Chelsea haven’t yet appointed Hiddink, and I’m sure that any breakdown in talks between the two parties will generate a frenzy of speculation, with Hughes’ name back in the frame no doubt and names such as Redknapp touted about. Could Redknapp follow Modric to Chelsea? Yes Chelsea’s apparent bid for the Croatian playmaker hasn’t been accepted, and indeed Hiddink remains the bookies’ firm favourite for Chelsea manager. And yet spurious gossip is the name of the game over the long summer, and there has been more than enough material to fuel this so far. And that’s just the managers – with several big name players leaving clubs this summer, and with many teams looking to strengthen in key areas (a tall and strong centre half for us, thank you very much), who ever said close season was boring?

Jess – Head of Content – Gooner – @jessicaenoch