Dean Smith

[mykeyb]

3 hours ago, MCU said:

Look at the bigger picture, he has steadied the ship.

He has been here 3 years, when do we start expecting more?

[Peter Griffin]

16 minutes ago, dcdedi said:

Can’t believe Smith hasn’t gone yet - surely this week it happens - hopefully

IF he is to go soon I suspect it will be next Tuesday. IF he goes it would probably be following a poor result, so if he is to go soon it will be after Friday night. A meeting on Monday with CP and NSWE and get the lawyers to draw up the paperwork and check we are doing everything as per employment law and then the actual sacking next Tue. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Peter Griffin
Fixed a typo

[Davkaus]

It'd be absolute fantasy to think we're competing for the kind of managers Spurs are at the moment, we're a long way from being as attractive a proposition as they are

[Peter Griffin]

1 minute ago, mykeyb said:

He has been here 3 years, when do we start expecting more?

I agree, looking at the big picture and the ship should be sailing at a fair whack of knots

[sne]

Next international break is after this week, the Southampton result will be huge. 15 day break until the next game after that. 

[Davkaus]

4 minutes ago, mykeyb said:

He has been here 3 years, when do we start expecting more?

And we've continuously improved over those 3 years...

[wilko154]

It's all well and good talking about sacking Smith, but who do we replace him with?

Villa have a history of bad managerial appointments, and this is a period where we simply can't get it wrong again.

Personally I would give Smith at least one more game; a win and then give him the next two against Brighton & Palace to not only improve results but performances as well.

The last thing we want to do now is sack Smith and bring someone in who is less capable of steering the ship in the right direction.

I think some of our fans have visions of the likes of Conte coming in; but realistically we are going to be shopping in the Championship managers bucket again this time.

[mykeyb]

3 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

And we've continuously improved over those 3 years...

Well upto the end of last season yes, this season no we have gone backwards and I dont just mean the last 4 results. If you happy for our play to consist of the back 4 passing it around before someone boots it up into the channels for Watkins or Ings to chase then that would explain it. I think our football is appalling and certainly not at the level I would expect for team with a manager who has been in position for 3 seasons..

[Davkaus]

2 minutes ago, mykeyb said:

Well upto the end of last season yes, this season no we have gone backwards and I dont just mean the last 4 results. If you happy for our play to consist of the back 4 passing it around before someone boots it up into the channels for Watkins or Ings to chase then that would explain it. I think our football is appalling and certainly not at the level I would expect for team with a manager who has been in position for 3 seasons..

I agree in part, so far I think this season has been a failure, but I do think he deserves a little more time after continued success with us. It was always going to be a big change for us losing Grealish, and we haven't adapted well enough to it, not helped by several games **** about with 3 at the back. He's on very thin ice.

[PaulC]

Doesn't look like they are going to sack him anytime soon.  They will give him time to get the new players integrated even if it means a bottom half finish. Things will change if we get involved in a  relegation fight. 

[mrchnry]

Pinch of salt but got this from someone who is not prone to gossip. 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2021 by mrchnry
Edited due to name being visible

[CVByrne]

20 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

And we've continuously improved over those 3 years...

2021 is not improvement it's going backwards vs project restart and the end of 2020 level of form

[thabucks]

2 minutes ago, mrchnry said:

Pinch of salt but got this from someone who is not prone to gossip. 

 

What did it say ? 

[pacbuddies]

2 minutes ago, mrchnry said:

Pinch of salt but got this from someone who is not prone to gossip. 

Hope so.

[CVByrne]

4 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Doesn't look like they are going to sack him anytime soon.  They will give him time to get the new players integrated even if it means a bottom half finish. Things will change if we get involved in a  relegation fight. 

Well they have to find a replacement. It's only since the win at United it's gone downhill. Only option could be to sack Deano and bring JT in till end of the season . That would only be option if he's lost the dressing room and we're beaten by 2+ goals at Southampton

I still think Smith will turn it around enough that we aren't in a relegation scrap. Then be moved on next summer.

[sharkyvilla]

I think they will look at it at the end of the season.  If we can get almost our best 4-3-3 on the pitch for the next few games I reckon we will get points and things will calm down again.  Dean is smart enough to know he has to keep improving us each season or else we will look elsewhere eventually and won't be hiding from it, but at the same time he has been written off about 4 times already and come good.

[Delphinho123]

I really hope for everybody's sake it doesn't turn nasty. By nasty, I mean, 'You're getting sacked in the morning' and, 'We want Smith out' chants.
Regardless of where we are now, he's been fantastic for the club and he's one of us. I think it would break his heart to be on the end of what the likes of Bruce received towards the end. 

Hopefully he resigns and walks away with some sort of gentlemans agreement. I can't personally see that scenario so I hope if he is to be sacked, it happens before it gets toxic - which it will do within a month based on current performances. 

[KentVillan]

21 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Really??

Can't help but feel the rumours of behind-the-scenes problems are probably correct. John Terry still has no other football role, I believe. Did he really want to leave us so badly to do nothing? Similarly, at 64, did Richard O'Kelly really want to retire from football at such a relatively young age? Neither of these things ring true. Desperately hoping the hard-won positive group mentality can be rebuilt, but it looks a tall order at the moment, and borders on farcical when a specialist in dead ball situations looks to have zero effect and an increasingly influential role.

The bad signs IMO were as follows:

• Purslow trying to convince the fans that Ings + Bailey + Buendia was some kind of pre-planned move to replace Grealish, when we all know Buendia was coming anyway, and Ings is a completely different player who didn't really suit our setup.
• No serious investment in other areas of the pitch besides obvious squad players (Young, Tuanzebe), when we all knew we needed competition for places at CDM (especially) and full back (with Guilbert leaving).
• The way Suso was scapegoated the summer before, when by all accounts he followed Purslow's brief.
• The obvious lies about Grealish's buyout clause, which are fair enough tbh (why advertise it?), but review some of the things that were said and you realise we were all severely misled - perhaps that stretches to ROK and Terry.
• The mysterious injury to Grealish, who has been absolutely fine so far at City.
• And then JT leaving just as he appeared to be becoming increasingly influential on match days.

You can see this all as Smith losing authority, or you can see it as Purslow meddling, or maybe a third party undermining things (Shakespeare). It's so hard to tell from the outside, isn't it, until someone spills to a journo?

My general view is that most managers achieve "par" for their squad over the long-term, and only a handful (Klopp etc) dramatically improve a side with their ability and personality. Especially nowadays when so much is handled by data teams, analysts, coaches, etc.

So when things are going wrong, it's easy to point the finger at the manager, and I agree he is having a nightmare at the moment. But I doubt he's the only problem, and I doubt sacking him mid-season will fix everything.

One of the best things Brighton did was give Hughton a full season before replacing him with Potter. Didn't destabilise the club, gave Potter a whole summer to work with the team. Unless we're really flirting with relegation (seems unlikely to me tbh), I would plan to do the same here with Smith, unless things really are completely ****ed in the dressing room.

[Nabby]

Just now, mrchnry said:

Pinch of salt but got this from someone who is not prone to gossip. 

 

3 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

The bad signs IMO were as follows:

• Purslow trying to convince the fans that Ings + Bailey + Buendia was some kind of pre-planned move to replace Grealish, when we all know Buendia was coming anyway, and Ings is a completely different player who didn't really suit our setup.
• No serious investment in other areas of the pitch besides obvious squad players (Young, Tuanzebe), when we all knew we needed competition for places at CDM (especially) and full back (with Guilbert leaving).
• The way Suso was scapegoated the summer before, when by all accounts he followed Purslow's brief.
• The obvious lies about Grealish's buyout clause, which are fair enough tbh (why advertise it?), but review some of the things that were said and you realise we were all severely misled - perhaps that stretches to ROK and Terry.
• The mysterious injury to Grealish, who has been absolutely fine so far at City.
• And then JT leaving just as he appeared to be becoming increasingly influential on match days.

You can see this all as Smith losing authority, or you can see it as Purslow meddling, or maybe a third party undermining things (Shakespeare). It's so hard to tell from the outside, isn't it, until someone spills to a journo?

My general view is that most managers achieve "par" for their squad over the long-term, and only a handful (Klopp etc) dramatically improve a side with their ability and personality. Especially nowadays when so much is handled by data teams, analysts, coaches, etc.

So when things are going wrong, it's easy to point the finger at the manager, and I agree he is having a nightmare at the moment. But I doubt he's the only problem, and I doubt sacking him mid-season will fix everything.

One of the best things Brighton did was give Hughton a full season before replacing him with Potter. Didn't destabilise the club, gave Potter a whole summer to work with the team. Unless we're really flirting with relegation (seems unlikely to me tbh), I would plan to do the same here with Smith, unless things really are completely ****ed in the dressing room.

We are , 5 wins in 27 is the stat I saw earlier in this thread and conceding 2 or more goals game after game - only Norwich IMO look worse than us and maybe Newcastle , but the latter obviously will recruit a new boss and through millions at it in Jan.

[Zatman]

I do think a problem is the structure at the moment. Rightly or wrongly Smith doesn't seem to trust the foreign signings that have came in from abroad. Trezeguet is probably the exception

I doubt the owners are happy spending for players that won't get a look in