MikeMcKenna

Fair enough. My business experience has always been that the Chairman is a facilitator rather than strategist. Obviously the lines get blurred from time to time as often the Chairman is appointed by Shareholders - I would be very surprised if it was a Dein or Levy type character who is strategic.

"..I guess carry on as CEO - the person responsible for "making it happen", but he wants someone else to lead in respect of determining the strategy and plans for the club..." Pete, I think it is the other way round, unless I have misunderstood you. The Chairman is more of a figurehead role, who presides over board meetings but depending on the business may also act as a sounding board/mentor for the CEO and other directors. Fox as CEO will still be responsible for developing and implementing high-level strategies, He is ultimately the one who makes the major decisions and manages the overall business. While a new chairman may be more helpful to Fox than Randy Lerner, as owner he will still hold the purse strings. I don't think the appointment of a new chairman will have much impact at all other than allowing RL to distance himself even more.

Thanks but It has brought back some terrible, terrible memories: On the 14th November 1974 it was my 21st birthday. Prior to my do at the old Locarno nightclub many of us met at the Tavern in the Town in New Street as it was one of our regular haunts. A week later we could easily have gone there again or the Mulberry Bush but decided to go elsewhere in the city centre (I can't remember where) but one of my old mates Desmond Reilly and his brother Eugene did go to the Tavern and were killed when the IRA bombs went off. Must admit that I have shed a tear and feel sick at the memories :-( It is all so pointless.

But there are still parallels. Despite losing Irish friends in the Birmingham bombings, I was beaten up as I was born in Ireland, despite being as much a "Brummie" as my attackers. My father and other Irish guys had to take two/three weeks off work. Many other friends of Irish descent were attacked. None of us ever had any connection with any republican politics. As 21 year old at the time of my beating I could easily have been "radicalised" Terrorists aim to spread hatred and division. The Islamic fundamentalist murderers know that these types of attacks will result in more division and discrimination against Muslims. This helps them to radicalise and recruit more future terrorists. They are winning and the West hasn't got a clue what to do about it. :-(

Out of interest why don't you go anymore?

I admit that it is rare and I never sit at away games either but it does happen usually towards the front.

"The only thing embarrassing here is the club/police/stewards perusing a few blokes standing and singing at a football match." It's not just the club/police/stewards though. From other fans perspective, many of who are ok with being seated, they are probably glad these "few fans" were booted. Over the years on more than the odd occasion, there have been rows because some idiots don't give a damn that they are blocking the view of other fans behind. Last season it kicked off at an away game because two or three Villa fans in the 1st or 2nd row insisted on standing blocking the view of a family with their kids behind. Contrary to popular belief, Villa fans are not all standing at away games. When they were asked to sit down they turned nasty. Put them in front of some of the old boys in the Holte and you would then see some fireworks before the stewards even got there. Whether it's the law, ground regulations or whatever the fact is that many fans prefer to stay seated and these guys don't give a shit about the rest. They are not doing it as a protest or principle, they are doing it because they are inconsiderate clearings in the woods.

I am loath to remind some that this a ****** thread about our new manager not somewhere to illustrate how much you loathe poor spelling. Pedantry is so boring and should be confined to sites about pedantry i think Remi Garde will be a tremendous manager. He probably doesn't know the difference between loath and loathe either but as long as he knows his football tactics and how to coach, I don't give a flying ****!

I personally wouldn't have brought N'Zogbia on as I think he left Amavi really exposed and City picked up on it and exploited it and it almost cost us. But then I wouldn't even let N'Zogbia mind my car! I was surprised at the inclusion of N'Zogbia in the squad and partly agree with this but at the time didn't really see what other options we had. Vertout had run his socks off (as had most). Grealish obviously wasn't an option. Maybe Richardson would have helped Amavi defensively more but wouldn't have provided the outlet that N'Zogbia did. When the team came out for the 2nd half it did seem that they had been instructed to play deeper, putting Bacuna, N'Zogbia and Gestede on a bit later may have been meant to try to take it to them more but who knows. Fortunately with a bit of luck it worked. I will be interested to see if N'Zogbia gets more game time against lesser opposition. Who knows Garde maybe able to get more out of him. Whatever works will do for me.

Not quite sure what some here saw today. Yes he gave the ball away a few times, but so did all of our midfielders. However he had the most completed passes of any Villa player. He has a great engine, tried to be progressive and did very well IMO. His is going to keep improving and IMO should start from now on.

Finally we have a manager who picks the best team available IMHO. Driving up, my son asked me who I would like to start. I said the exact line up man for man. :-) The only doubt I had was Clarke, preferring Okore if he was fit. So when I saw the team announced I was pretty shocked! We obviously have problems up front but for the first time in ages we looked a half decent team. Still don't know if Garde can save us but have high hopes with him as our manager over the long term.

Just home. I really enjoyed that! In the 1st we showed we can play football and that we have more than a few decent players. I was impressed with Vertout - considering this was his first 90 minutes and the way that he was **** about by Sherwood. Gill was excellent in the first half, Sanchez was fairly dominant at times. Gana made a couple of errors early on but got better as the game continued. Great to see someone upfront in Ayew who can retain the ball. We now just need to get some goals. We had some luck but overall we played well!

Do you seriously believe that they haven't discussed this issue before he joined? I take such interviews with a pinch of salt, knowing that most managers don't talk to their clubs through the media. I think most of the questions they ask are ****** in any case

Earlier Lexicon asked the question '..who do you think was the last grown-up we had? " I agree totally with Briny Ear's answer "Ron Saunders". However I would add that despite the nightmare of the last 4/5 seasons that I think the club may also have finally "grown up" by appointing Garde. But what was/is it about Garde and Saunders that qualifies them as "grown up" whereas others may not have been or at least not always? And why do I claim that the club has also finally grown up? Obviously we are a dire situation and there are many issues that Garde has to deal with but I am going to stick my neck out and say that IMHO we are on the verge of a new era. Before anyone jumps down my throat, of course it could go horribly wrong like every other time this century, but visa versa it could be the start of something good if he is given time. Time ultimately will tell if we are right but like Saunders I sense Garde is his "own man". For him there is no ambiguity about who runs the football side of the club. But being aware of the sheer complexity of the modern game, he realises that he cannot do everything. It was much less complex in Saunders day. Players did not hold the upper hand as they do now. Things have changed in terms of finding new players and the complexity of negotiating and writing contracts - you need specialists devoted to this area full time - this is how grown up clubs operate. The whole coaching and fitness infrastructure of a modern club is akin to an F1 team with specialists required for each area. But Garde is ultimately "The Manager" who brings it all together and he has a lot to prove if he is to live up to the claims of the likes of Wenger and Houllier. However I do sense that unlike other previous managers, that he is not wrapped up in his own ego and the hype. The Guardian recently stated that Garde is a "Humble Visionary..." Quoting an adviser to president of Lyon who said he " is a very intelligent guy, he is a visionary and he has an approach to football that I think is remarkable …" However he may find it almost impossible in this age of Arab and Russian £billionaires to emulate Saunders success. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/03/remi-garde-aston-villa-lyon-humble-visionary Saunders had a vision and also a remarkable approach considering our clubs then limited means. Against the odds, he took us up from division 2 in 1974/75 while winning the League Cup, in the same season, the league cup again in 1977 through to the ultimate English achievement by becoming League Champions in 80/81. Despite his shock departure it was also his team that won the European Cup in 1981/82. With his hard man persona, Saunders was similar in an old fashioned way to Garde. The word "vision" wasn't used in his time but he had it. He was intelligent and had a distinct approach to team management. He knew where he wanted to take the club while being very focussed and quietly passionate. He often said it was all about the club and fans. In his book after the 80-81 league win he said: "I rate them so highly that I consider myself one of them, with the rider than I am also fortunate enough to be the manager of Aston Villa and in that way I represent them" He considered managing Villa to be a privilege. I believe Garde will acquire the same passion, even if he cannot yet be called a "fan". It will not be solely about him and the players but to do with achieving success for the club and fans. The Lyon fans were devastated when he resigned. As Saunders, we have already heard that Garde will not suffer division in the team or individuals who think they are bigger than the club. He will be a strong manager and do his talking behind the scenes not through the media - again like Saunders. Clearly Garde's management of these highly paid individuals and tactical approach must by the very nature of today's game be different. Similarly like Saunders he has an in depth understanding of tactics, maybe more so, and that physical and mental fitness are key factors. They will inevitably differ when it comes to the media in that Garde must engage, whereas Saunders had little time for them. No other manager since Saunders in my opinion has had the strength of character or vision till hopefully now Garde. It wasn't always the previous managers faults, some were never allowed to develop. During Ellis's time managers had to play second fiddle to him and accept the irrational way he ran the club. However he also employed some shocking managers. We never had a direction or strategy for long term success. We stumbled from not quite breaking through, despite winning the League Cup a couple of times, to eventual stagnation under Ellis. So if IMHO Garde is our first grown up since Saunders why do I think his arrival also may indicate the club has "grown up"? Like many when Lerner arrived, I thought it was going to be different and the start of the 2nd révolution for Villa. I was very excited by the appointment of O'Neill. But with hindsight he was yet another dinosaur with no long term strategy or vision. He demanded that everything on the playing side had to be controlled by him and was very much in the mould of his old boss the equally divisive Brian Clough. Speaking to people at the club since, O'Neill brooked no interference from anyone. There was a them and us culture. Feared literally stalked the corridors and MON was always right.. He went out and bought many older players who were often Captains at their previous clubs but many we're on the verge of becoming journeymen getting their last big pay packets. As a result of his largesse the squad had next to no depth and for several years was one of the smallest in the PL. He paid these experienced players at the top of the scale and when injuries struck he had nothing to fall back on. He was very short term and it never occurred to him that the state of the clubs finances would be dire if we didn't breakthrough into the CL. When he left we were up **** creek! Lerner was ultimately responsible and very immature in allowing O'Neill so much rope. He didn't lead the second revolution. Lerner in many ways had carried on where Ellis left off. He surrounded himself with fools and amateurs. He thought that advice from the likes of Alex Ferguson and others could bring success. Krulak was a joke and Faulkner was out of his depth. As a result we continued in the same vein. Lerner was also out of his depth, has blown his money and didn't understand the game. But more worryingly he wasn't learning by his mistakes. The appointed of Houllier was naive given his health situation and he was never going to be anything more than a stop gap. The arrival of McLeish was a PR disaster and unfathomable - he had just relegated our hated rivals and could hardly be considered a manager that would help us rise again. When Paul "the project" Lambert arrived and the talk was of living within our means with the need to bring through lower league players and the youth we all knew that deep down it wasn't going to end well. It was almost the opposite of O'Neill's approach. We needed a combination of quality, potential and youth. Lerner had lost the plot and all but given up. In his desire to sell the club he realised he needed to take a more professional approach and appointed Tom Fox. I believe that Fox realised that Lambert had to go but that it took a while for him to persuade Lerner. Fox decided to bring in Hendrik Almstadt and Paddy Reilly to beef up the player recruitment. But he got his first manager appointment wrong. Sherwoods never really filled many of us with great expectations. That he may have done well for a limited period with Spurs and had a reputation for bringing through kids, didn't seem enough. He lacked experience and despite his % points total at Spurs their fans considered his tactics and approach to be haphazard. He sounded good when he arrived, walked the talk and saved us from going down but IMO he was a younger version of many managers that we had before. I still don't think he was Tom Fox's first choice for manager but the default option. I really believe he wanted Garde in February. But Garde would not break his promise to his family that he would take a full year out. Perversely I believe we are fortunate that Sherwood did not do well and that Fox acted quickly. Ultimately he did not have the intelligence, persona or vision to change Villa's future. Tom Fox (and Lerner) may have eventually got it right. Since Fox's arrival the club has started to put the right individuals in place and at last we have a grown up manager. In my opinion, Remi Garde is potentially a modern incarnation of Ron Saunders. He may be too late to save us from relegation but I would rather have Garde at the helm than the likes of Pulis, Allardyce or many of the others touted who offered us nothing for the future. Rémi Garde va conduire la seconde révolution - aller les claret et bleu!

So you can see into the future? He may not be our saviour but no one can say that with any certainty. I prefer to live in hope, keep the faith and be positive.

haha I haven't even spoken to them yet - IF it happens and it is a very big IF, who plays would be the decision of whoever the manager is :-)

That makes him sound like a very dirty verb haha - brain is quicker than fingers or visa versa! - but looking at Gerry Francis lately he does as mentioned by someone look very like Stringfellow who could be described a very dirty verb (or word)!

Definitely not but my son in law is a corporal in the Signals regiment so he can do the bullshit the fans job :-)

And then we look at Gerry Francis managerial stats and wonders how he can criticise anyone yep strange that anyone would Gerry Francis near a PL game - now he is a dinosaur!

haha exactly - who would want to it eh? must be mad to even think about it! I could become a mini Ellis/Lerner without the roller or private jet! Banners, Protest Marches, Abusive Chants and **** through the letterbox could all be on the horizon. Maybe I could "sack the fans" :-)

It doesn't matter which club it is, prepare initially to be welcomed with great fervour. When the honeymoon period is over expect to be slaughtered on social media for your lack of ambition and unwillingness to "invest" in the club, and be harrangued on the public highway. My advice - avoid. At best you might get a year of fun, followed by the stress of how you'll ever dispose of the millstone. Hi mate, having researched similar clubs and this specific one via social media, we realise that no matter how small the club or the fervour of any initial welcome eventually there will be negatives and fallouts. It goes with the territory, we are pretty thick skinned.and can take it. As I said my business partner was Chairman of quite a large junior league club for five years. The committee, players, parents and coaching staff to respected him a lot overall but there were times when he was not flavour of the month. Anyone who sticks their ahead above the parapet is likely to get shot at eventually. We realise it will not always be fun but nothing is.

hi mate no it isn't

Given the fanfare that greeted his signing and subsequent events I am sure that Traore must be wondering if he made the right choice and despite his reputation feeling very low. If he is to ever show for us, a lot of work has to be done with guys like him. Many of this years imports must have been thinking that AVFC is a joke of a club. Really hope that Garde's reputation for engaging with young, talented players is true. Traore used properly could be amazing!

Garde's use of Gabby in the immediate future is going to be very interesting. As it stands he is pretty useless and makes little and increasingly less contributions to matches. If the collective that is "the fans that use Villa forums" are right, he is at the end of his Villa career as a starting striker. But nothing surprises me and I still think he will be trotted out because we have such a dearth of strikers. It would be really worrying if we do not bring in at least one decent striker in January and consign Gabby at best to the bench.

Hi, Too big, expensive and far away for us . But I like the Halesowen area and heard good things about their fans when we lived nearer to Brum. Never realised till I just looked now on Wikipedia that they were founded in 1873, so they are older than Aston Villa by one year! It's fantastic that a small club has such a heritage. If we were minted, had very deep pockets and lived closer it would be a great idea but we don't on every count :-)