The Managerial Merry Go Round™

[The Prophet]

 

[Danh1]

That is interesting. 
 

Sporting Directors (and other similar titles) don’t seem to last long, do they?

 

 

[Ben]

 

[The College Dropout]

Going full tits up at Villa

 

 They don’t have an Eddie Howe to steer them through troubled waters (or a Sandro Tonali & Alex Isak)

[The College Dropout]

That game at Old Trafford was a sliding doors moment for them.  Not just the £50m to alleviate PSR and maintain a feel good factor at the club.  
 

We lost at home to West Ham after about 12 games. We were mid table.  Atmosphere rank. We had a spirited defeat against a top 4 side Liverpool maybe then Isak went on a tear, Tonali integrated and we changed the momentum of the season.  But I think many forget how bad the atmosphere was at the club until about GW13-14. It wasn’t half as bad as Villa but it was bad.  How held the fans and the group together just about. 
 

Villa kept trying to trade until the end. Players like Martinez wanting to leave and then staying. It kills the group.  Similar happens to Gordon but not as bad and it messed him up too.  Again smart thing Howe did was not wanting to lose any other key players to try and go again.  Kept the atmosphere of the core group. 

[The Prophet]

Sounds like Monchi has been a bit of a disaster and it's hoped getting rid will appease some of the lads he hawked around in the summer.

[Danh1]

Had a read of Villa’s forum (the adverts make it about as pleasant an experience as getting a turned on chainsaw rammed up your ballon knot) and they are happy about this and don’t rate him. Will be interesting to see how this impacts Emery. If the board have gone over his head, as has been suggested on there, then he may walk 

[LFEE]

16 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

That game at Old Trafford was a sliding doors moment for them.  Not just the £50m to alleviate PSR and maintain a feel good factor at the club.  
 

We lost at home to West Ham after about 12 games. We were mid table.  Atmosphere rank. We had a spirited defeat against a top 4 side Liverpool maybe then Isak went on a tear, Tonali integrated and we changed the momentum of the season.  But I think many forget how bad the atmosphere was at the club until about GW13-14. It wasn’t half as bad as Villa but it was bad.  How held the fans and the group together just about. 
 

Villa kept trying to trade until the end. Players like Martinez wanting to leave and then staying. It kills the group.  Similar happens to Gordon but not as bad and it messed him up too.  Again smart thing Howe did was not wanting to lose any other key players to try and go again.  Kept the atmosphere of the core group. 

Do you go to the games?

[r0cafella]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

That game at Old Trafford was a sliding doors moment for them.  Not just the £50m to alleviate PSR and maintain a feel good factor at the club.  
 

We lost at home to West Ham after about 12 games. We were mid table.  Atmosphere rank. We had a spirited defeat against a top 4 side Liverpool maybe then Isak went on a tear, Tonali integrated and we changed the momentum of the season.  But I think many forget how bad the atmosphere was at the club until about GW13-14. It wasn’t half as bad as Villa but it was bad.  How held the fans and the group together just about. 
 

Villa kept trying to trade until the end. Players like Martinez wanting to leave and then staying. It kills the group.  Similar happens to Gordon but not as bad and it messed him up too.  Again smart thing Howe did was not wanting to lose any other key players to try and go again.  Kept the atmosphere of the core group. 

Cmon man you were chief villa glazer last season. 

 

As an aside and to clarify villa don't have financial issues, the owners are amongst the richest individuals on the planet. They have a difficulty complying with anti competitive rules which is the same problem we face and the same problem anyone who isn't the cartel would face. Why is it Manchester utd have 1b in debt and can spend what they like but villa have no debt and can't?

[Stifler]

2 hours ago, r0cafella said:

Cmon man you were chief villa glazer last season. 

 

As an aside and to clarify villa don't have financial issues, the owners are amongst the richest individuals on the planet. They have a difficulty complying with anti competitive rules which is the same problem we face and the same problem anyone who isn't the cartel would face. Why is it Manchester utd have 1b in debt and can spend what they like but villa have no debt and can't?

Yeah, as we have said it’s PSR issues they have, not cash flow.

It seems like the top 6 have managed to get 1 club fighting them off their backs. I can’t see it being much longer before they go for round 2 of the ESL again.

NUFC bought by PIF, Aston Villa trying to challenge. Refereeing decisions have already got Liverpool and Arsenal fans clamouring for it.

What fucking good is the 5th placed Champions League place if Man Utd are not getting it and instead they are told to enter the League Cup a round earlier to slim it out with Grimsby.

Now is the time for them to strike at it whilst they can claim it is protecting ‘the natural order’ of football.

 

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it comes back around again in the next year.

[r0cafella]

49 minutes ago, Stifler said:

Yeah, as we have said it’s PSR issues they have, not cash flow.

It seems like the top 6 have managed to get 1 club fighting them off their backs. I can’t see it being much longer before they go for round 2 of the ESL again.

NUFC bought by PIF, Aston Villa trying to challenge. Refereeing decisions have already got Liverpool and Arsenal fans clamouring for it.

What fucking good is the 5th placed Champions League place if Man Utd are not getting it and instead they are told to enter the League Cup a round earlier to slim it out with Grimsby.

Now is the time for them to strike at it whilst they can claim it is protecting ‘the natural order’ of football.

 

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it comes back around again in the next year.

Premier league clubs won't go for the ESL it's too toxic plus they largely have what they wanted out of that attempt anyways. 

 

The rules structured as they are province then with ample cover as this summer demonstrated perfectly. 

[toontownman]

Emery seems like an absolute princes. Toys out of the pram on a regular basis at the moment. Usually a sign of deflection that a manager knows they cant turn a bad situation around. All teams and managers are going to have rough spots. So glad we have a manager that will act with class in all situations.

[Hovagod]

7 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

That game at Old Trafford was a sliding doors moment for them.  Not just the £50m to alleviate PSR and maintain a feel good factor at the club.  
 

We lost at home to West Ham after about 12 games. We were mid table.  Atmosphere rank. We had a spirited defeat against a top 4 side Liverpool maybe then Isak went on a tear, Tonali integrated and we changed the momentum of the season.  But I think many forget how bad the atmosphere was at the club until about GW13-14. It wasn’t half as bad as Villa but it was bad.  How held the fans and the group together just about. 
 

Villa kept trying to trade until the end. Players like Martinez wanting to leave and then staying. It kills the group.  Similar happens to Gordon but not as bad and it messed him up too.  Again smart thing Howe did was not wanting to lose any other key players to try and go again.  Kept the atmosphere of the core group. 

We drew with Liverpool. You spent the entire season telling us how much better placed Villa were than us. 

[Sibierski]

3 hours ago, r0cafella said:

Premier league clubs won't go for the ESL it's too toxic plus they largely have what they wanted out of that attempt anyways. 

 

The rules structured as they are province then with ample cover as this summer demonstrated perfectly. 

Premier League is also the ESL. That’s where the money is as shown across Europe by deals going down for their domestic leagues. With UCL on top, they now have no need to press for a super league. If anything, they will just press UEFA with the others to close off that competition further / increase the size so more can enter and have the premier league reduced down or weekend slots swapped with a couple of European midweeks.

 

Super League won’t ever happen again IMO for English sides. European sides may want one, but they know it won’t have the traction without the English sides. The premier league being distorted to suit the cartel 6 is the real concern over next 5 years as nothing is off the table.

[Dr Venkman]

8 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

Going full tits up at Villa

 

 They don’t have an Eddie Howe to steer them through troubled waters (or a Sandro Tonali & Alex Isak)

Wasn’t their squad building a shining example for all of us? Or was that someone else?

 

 

Edited September 23, 2025 by Dr Venkman

[Lush Vlad]

TCD would make a great politician  

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, Dr Venkman said:

Wasn’t their squad building a shining example for all of us? Or was that someone else?

 

 

 

Going for it and trying to consolidate CL place again I still think is the best right and decision.  Ultimately they fell short by goal difference and it’s having a massive impact on them.  
 

And it’s more mental than anything. The squad isn’t any weaker than the one that qualified for the CL or the one that started last season. But something else is wrong. They’ve not sold any of their best players - the one you could argue they replaced twice. 
 

Where I think they have gone wrong strategically is the desire to keep trading. That impacts morale.  
 

If Emery was as good a manager as Howe I reckon Villa are in the CL or have a better chance of qualifying again.  But I think their PSR approach last season was a good one.  
 

 

For us - we are reliant on the genius of Eddie Howe. Our PSR approach didn’t leave our squad in any better shape than Villa’s now.  It’s only Eddie Howe that makes me think we can have a better season than Villa did last.  If we don’t - we’ll lose Tonali imo. I pray the new leadership team is less risk averse and more innovative in the transfer market. 
 

Our initial aggressive squad building (and Howe) got us our success.  

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, Sibierski said:

Premier League is also the ESL. That’s where the money is as shown across Europe by deals going down for their domestic leagues. With UCL on top, they now have no need to press for a super league. If anything, they will just press UEFA with the others to close off that competition further / increase the size so more can enter and have the premier league reduced down or weekend slots swapped with a couple of European midweeks.

 

Super League won’t ever happen again IMO for English sides. European sides may want one, but they know it won’t have the traction without the English sides. The premier league being distorted to suit the cartel 6 is the real concern over next 5 years as nothing is off the table.

Disagree. American owners don’t want to play Burnley twice while hoping to land big European sides in Europe.  
 

The money is in playing Real Madrid, Juve, Barca as many times a season as possible.  the but American cartel owners view the PL as subsidising 14 other teams. That’s not going to change. So with that they will want a super league still. 

[80]

10 hours ago, Danh1 said:

That is interesting. 
 

Sporting Directors (and other similar titles) don’t seem to last long, do they?

 

 

Nah man, they provide a sense of stability and vital continuity in planning.

[The College Dropout]

2 hours ago, Hovagod said:

We drew with Liverpool. You spent the entire season telling us how much better placed Villa were than us. 

Villa missed out on CL on goal difference while being in the CL quarter final. They didn’t sell any key players in the summer either. The approach made sense, the execution was slightly out and the rest of the management/execution has gone haywire since. With the squad Villa has last season, Emery should’ve got them CL, if they had the squad from the start they would have.  The squad they have now is good. 
 

It’s our turn to go CL and league again. It’s only Howe that makes me think we can hold it together. The squad is short again imo. 5th and CL QF would be brilliant with this squad. 

[SteV]

 

That’s Monchi’s incomings.

First window - Roger’s and Tielemens been very good, rest mediocre at best.

 

Second window - Onana, Maatsen and (to an extent) Barkley been OK, but nothing flash. Rest poor.

 

Third window - obviously far too early to judge, but hardly an encouraging start.

[The College Dropout]

Pau Torres is their best defender or at least up there with Konsa. 
 

The Malen transfer is weird.  He’s totally unfancied. He looks dangerous to me whenever I see him.  But Emery would rather play McGinn in an attacking role. Then they go and get Jadon Sancho too.  

[Abacus]

Emery will probably have them playing well again, they're still a very good team but as pointed out here the financial constraints have them bumping against that class ceiling again, especially when their gamble last year didn't work.

 

It was an odd reaction by him after Sunderland, but still they need to realise that changing managers won't fix that fundamental restriction. Even if that's on the cards, which I doubt, as it would be madness after a handful of games.

 

On a different note, though, the sporting director leaving is interesting. We fondly imagine that a DOF or equivalent is for your long term strategy, so managers can come and go. But it seems quite a few, even those highly regarded, move on every few years and are largely unaccountable for what happens on the pitch.

 

When you've got a decent manager like we fortunately do right now, it seems to me the DOF should be there to support them by taking stuff off their plate. From the outside, our last one just seemed to cause more problems instead.

[leffe186]

10 minutes ago, SteV said:

 

That’s Monchi’s incomings.

First window - Roger’s and Tielemens been very good, rest mediocre at best.

 

Second window - Onana, Maatsen and (to an extent) Barkley been OK, but nothing flash. Rest poor.

 

Third window - obviously far too early to judge, but hardly an encouraging start.

 

 

On 16/08/2024 at 17:17, brummie said:

 

…That's Monchi at work. The cunning fucker.

 

[Sibierski]

Didn't realise the chat was in this thread.

 

Aston Villa approach has been poor for PSR. Said it January, it's not good for PSR if every summer you signing a player for £35m, then selling them for £35m next summer when it doens't work to enable more signings, as with all the signing on fees etc. it's net equal at best. Monchi is also a known wheeler dealer, that leaves squads in poor bloated states once he goes. Just look at the business in summer 2024, so much nothingness.

 

 

Onana only one that's played reguarly and he's been hit and miss with injuries.

 

They have got some stars in their XI, but when Emery goes it could look even worse as they well need to sell Rogers to enable a squad revamp.