Steven Gerrard

[nick76]

8 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

All this talk reminds me of Kodjia. They had to start monitoring his sleep at Bristol City as he kept staying up till 5am in his hotel room the night before a game watching videos.

Imagine if City had to do this with Jack, they’d have to find out whose bed he was in for any particular night

[Tom13]

14 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Kodjia??! Really...?

Yes. Really.

[tomav84]

4 hours ago, Didiersix said:

I'd love to know who were the other names on our shortlist of 4...

does anyone really believe there were any others considered?

[Kingman]

I would say The Danish gaffa, Martinez and Fonseca

[macandally]

I am not going to hide the fact I still remain to be convinced by the Gerrard appointment.  I still think some are getting ahead of themselves as lots of people talk a good game, proof is implementing it (particularly when players may be unwilling.

I actually felt worse after that presser, Lange was pointless, Purslow looks under the pump (go back to the smiley faces when Deano came in) and Gerrard looked uncomfortable with the whole dog and pony show.  That whole thing was pointless, he has another presser pregame tomorrow, with likely same questions.  It would have been better to let the bloke use the time afforded to him with the team.

I always felt confident with the structure put in place by the owners and Purslow, now I have my doubts, particularly with the latter.  This didn’t look like a relaxed, confident Purslow, it looked like someone who knows he is pulling the wool with his public responses and is hoping his confidence/gambleis justified.

I expect a “bounce” Saturday, but remain to be convinced long term

[tomav84]

1 hour ago, Condimentalist said:

Got to to admire Deano having a tour of that shithole and still managing to pretend that everything's OK.

What an absolute pro. 

i don't think it's a bad place from what i've seen, i know the address too....it's on letsbe avenue

 

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, macandally said:

I am not going to hide the fact I still remain to be convinced by the Gerrard appointment.  I still think some are getting ahead of themselves as lots of people talk a good game, proof is implementing it (particularly when players may be unwilling.

I actually felt worse after that presser, Lange was pointless, Purslow looks under the pump (go back to the smiley faces when Deano came in) and Gerrard looked uncomfortable with the whole dog and pony show.  That whole thing was pointless, he has another presser pregame tomorrow, with likely same questions.  It would have been better to let the bloke use the time afforded to him with the team.

I always felt confident with the structure put in place by the owners and Purslow, now I have my doubts, particularly with the latter.  This didn’t look like a relaxed, confident Purslow, it looked like someone who knows he is pulling the wool with his public responses and is hoping his confidence/gambleis justified.

I expect a “bounce” Saturday, but remain to be convinced long term

Bang on.

[WHY]

I wasn’t sure about having Gerrard as Manager initially but I’m more confident now as he seems to have come with a team who are well respected. A lot of good managers have failed when they lose their right hand men. A strong management team can get more out of our current team imo. 

[MaVilla]

i have no doubt we will ketchup with the teams above us now.

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

i have no doubt we will ketchup with the teams above us now.

Can they cut the mustard is my question!

[nick76]

15 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

does anyone really believe there were any others considered?

I also don’t believe that Wednesday was the first time we’d contacted him or his representatives, this feels like it was in the works.

[macandally]

5 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I also don’t believe that Wednesday was the first time we’d contacted him or his representatives, this feels like it was in the works.

As I said, a bit of a charade and all of them looked uncomfortable with it.  The question responses were awkward, contradictory and to be honest, the body language of Purslow told the whole story

[tomav84]

8 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I also don’t believe that Wednesday was the first time we’d contacted him or his representatives, this feels like it was in the works.

nah course it wasn't. i don't think we'd have sacked deano if gerrard wasn't willing. to be honest i'd rather that somewhat shadey (ok, illegal) approach than newcastle who had no plan at all post-bruce, losing games under a caretaker, before ending up with their 5th or 6th choice

[Weechops]

13 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I also don’t believe that Wednesday was the first time we’d contacted him or his representatives, this feels like it was in the works.

He was wanting to go after our defeat to Malmo. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. You could sense the drive ebb away from him. Pressers were beyond boring- same thing different day. We drew Motherwell at Ibrox in mid September and there were rumours that he was wanting out. I watched his presser today and he had the body language of someone not telling the truth about his approach timeline. Anyway, we got Gio today and the whole of the blue side of Glasgow and elsewhere are buzzing about it. It's always nice to employ someone as manager who has an affiliation with the club and the support. Wait till you see Hampden on Sunday.  43,000 Rangers supporters mainly wearing Dutch Orange. Good times ahead. Good luck for Saturday troops. 

[Tom13]

1 minute ago, Weechops said:

He was wanting to go after our defeat to Malmo. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. You could sense the drive ebb away from him. Pressers were beyond boring- same thing different day. We drew Motherwell at Ibrox in mid September and there were rumours that he was wanting out. I watched his presser today and he had the body language of someone not telling the truth about his approach timeline. Anyway, we got Gio today and the whole of the blue side of Glasgow and elsewhere are buzzing about it. It's always nice to employ someone as manager who has an affiliation with the club and the support. Wait till you see Hampden on Sunday.  43,000 Rangers supporters mainly wearing Dutch Orange. Good times ahead. Good luck for Saturday troops. 

I'd like to see GvB succeed. He always came across as a decent guy to me.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

12 minutes ago, Weechops said:

Wait till you see Hampden on Sunday.  43,000 Rangers supporters mainly wearing Dutch Orange. Good times ahead. Good luck for Saturday troops. 

[WallisFrizz]

52 minutes ago, macandally said:

That whole thing was pointless, he has another presser pregame tomorrow, with likely same questions.  It would have been better to let the bloke use the time afforded to him with the team.

 

Another one? Really? God today’s really was pointless, no wonder it seemed awkward. Mondays interview was great, should have gone from that straight to the pre-game conference. Have they confirmed he has another tomorrow…what’s left to say? 

[a m ole]

2 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Another one? Really? God today’s really was pointless, no wonder it seemed awkward. Mondays interview was great, should have gone from that straight to the pre-game conference. Have they confirmed he has another tomorrow…what’s left to say? 

Maybe get the **** Liverpool questions out the way so tomorrow is about the game? We’ll see though. Did seem particularly pointless.

[Jareth]

Latest telegraph article on his appointment - one has to wonder if this is a load of BS - I mean anyone who has had to prepare for a job interview with a POWERPOINT presser needs a tad more than 3 days. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/11/18/steven-gerrard-denies-aston-villa-role-stepping-stone-liverpool/

“Be Prepared” is one of the Aston Villa slogans and once Steven Gerrard sat down with the club hierarchy, it soon became inevitable he would be the new head coach.

Five hours of intense, highly-detailed talks ended with Gerrard emerging as the No 1 candidate to succeed Dean Smith, ensuring that his sleepless night before the interview was all worthwhile.

Detailing the strengths and weaknesses of every first-team player, he outlined the philosophy behind his possession-based style of play and how he would introduce it into training sessions.

Gerrard also made a comprehensive Powerpoint presentation at the top-secret meeting in London, in front of Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow and sporting director Johan Lange.

At times, it was not easy. Purslow and Lange both bombarded Gerrard with questions, demanding to know the methodology behind ideas, and how he could transfer his style into the Premier League against certain teams.

'We were blown away with the level of preparation'

Yet the 41-year-old never missed a beat, and the wheels were firmly in motion before his appointment last Thursday.

“It was an outstanding interview and left us in no doubt that we were on with the right man,” said Purslow.

“From my perspective, we were blown away with the level of preparation, the thoughtfulness, and the clarity around a pretty detailed blueprint.”

Villa’s appointment of Gerrard was completed four days after the dismissal of Smith, and ended a swift but exhaustive process.

After Smith’s sacking was confirmed on Sunday, Villa were inundated with applications.

Utilising data and analytics, Lange worked from an initial list of 20 coaches which were presented to the board, before whittling the short-list down to a final four.

Villa were intent on appointing a manager currently in work: they believed it would be easier for a manager already in the ‘zone’ of daily training sessions and match preparation to make an instant impression.

Frank Lampard, the former Chelsea manager, is understood to have had informal talks with Villa but Gerrard was always high up in their thoughts.

[est1874]

39 minutes ago, macandally said:

As I said, a bit of a charade and all of them looked uncomfortable with it.  The question responses were awkward, contradictory and to be honest, the body language of Purslow told the whole story

OK Alex Jones