Five Aston Villa manager options to restore Aston Villa’s pride
With every passing result, the Paul Lambert apologists have less of an argument, as his Villa side limps towards the end of the season. Lambert’s Villa record is unlikely to impress any new owners at Villa Park, if the mooted takeover becomes a reality.
The time for giving the benefit of the doubt has surely passed. This is a man that has overseen three records broken in two seasons of football. Unfortunately, those records – the heaviest Premier League era defeat, the most defeats in a Premier League season, and the highest number of home defeats in a season in Villa’s history – are not the desirable kind.
His brand of football is boring and many of his signings have proved disastrous. Villa deserve more. To prove it, here are five managers that could do a better job than Paul Lambert.
5. David Moyes
Moyes’ reputation might currently be strewn around his feet in tatters, but his failure at Manchester United is essentially irrelevant to Villa.
It’s his work at Everton that suggests that he’d be a good fit at Villa Park. Like Villa, the Merseysiders were a big club that were down on their luck when Moyes took charge. He transformed them into one of the Premier League’s top sides, thanks mainly to his ability to spot a bargain.
The likes of Mikel Arteta, Leighton Baines, Tim Cahill, Seamus Coleman, Sylvian Distin, Marouane Fellaini, Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka, Kevin Mirallas, Steven Pienaar and John Stones were all signed on Moyes’ watch. He is a proven master in the end of the transfer market in which Villa currently operate.
Update: Moyes seems content at Real Sociedad and would probably be keen to continue to rebuild his rep out of the glare of the English media
4. Michael Laudrup
Like Moyes, the former Swansea manager Michael Laudrup is another casualty of the trigger-happy tendencies of Premier League chairmen this season.
The sacking looked harsh considering that Laudrup’s debut season at Swansea was a very successful one, in which he steered the team to a ninth place finish and won the League Cup. Swansea’s subsequent qualification for the Europa League was always going to stretch a slight squad and you sense that Laudrup’s sacking was more down to personal issues between himself and his former chairman Huw Jenkins.
Laudrup’s sides play attractive football and signings such as Michu and Wilfried Bony have proved his ability in the transfer market.
Update: Currently manages Qatar side Lekhwiya
3. Jurgen Klinsmann
Another legendary player to have been linked with the Villa job is Jurgen Klinsmann. The current manager of the US national team, Klinsmann would bring a welcome hint of glamour to a club that have endured dour football for several seasons.
His name alone would make Villa a more attractive proposition for potential signings and though there are question marks over his managerial abilities, his supposed failures are often exaggerated.
It’s true that Klinsmann was sacked before the end of his one season in charge of Bayern Munich, but what is often forgotten is that they were only three points off the top of the Bundesliga with five games remaining, when the axe fell.
Similarly, Joachim Loew tends to get the credit for Germany’s success at the 2006 World Cup, as if Klinsmann was the first manager to rely upon a talented tactician within his coaching staff. In truth, Klinsmann’s restructuring of Germany’s setup from top to bottom, has been key to their revival in recent years. With the club’s American ownership, a move for Klinsmann could be likelier than it sounds and he’s now the bookies second favourite.
2. Murat Yakin
The Basel coach is one of Europe’s hottest properties, with his side winning the Swiss Super League last season and looking likely to defend their title.
If winning the Swiss league doesn’t impress you – and to be fair, Christian Gross has won six Swiss titles – then Yakin’s European record makes more interesting reading. Last season he guided Basel to a Europa League semi-final, knocking out Zenit and Tottenham while playing some thrilling football.
They were defeated by the eventual winners Chelsea, but got their revenge in the Champions League group stage, as Yakin masterminded two wins over Jose Mourinho’s side. Parachuting down into the Europa League, Basel went close to reaching the semi-finals for a second season, only to be eliminated at the quarter-final stage amidst a horrendous injury crisis.
Realistically, Yakin will surely struggle to achieve more than he already has with Basel, so a move to a top European league seems inevitable. With the likes of Lazio and Sampdoria being currently linked to Yakin, it would seem that Villa would have a realistic chance of tempting him to the Premier League.
Update: Joined Spartak Moscow in June 2014
1. Thomas Tuchel
One of the brightest managerial prospects in Germany, Thomas Tuchel has performed miracles at minnows Mainz 05, who look to have just fallen short of Champions League qualification this season.
Since being appointed as manager in 2009, only Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke – the Bundesliga’s big four – have accumulated more points. It’s an amazing achievement at a club that have a wage bill of just €20m per annum.
This is Tuchel’s first senior management job, having previously won the U19 Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Mainz. A tactically adaptable coach, Tuchel has created a successful system based on relentless pressing and fast counter-attacks.
It’s only a matter of time before Tuchel lands one of the top jobs in German football. While he’s waiting, a spell in England with a club like Villa that have massive potential, could prove the perfect stepping stone.
Update: He is currently on a year’s sabbatical after Mainz didn’t want to realise him from his contract, after he wanted to leave
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“This is a man that has overseen three record-breaking seasons of football” – Lambert has only been Villa manager for 2 years.
“…Joachim Loew tends to get the credit for Germany’s success at the 2008 World Cup…” – You mean the 2006 World Cup.
I like this website but the mistakes in each and every article are undermining the content. It’s not like I’m looking for mistakes, they simply jump out at me. Doesn’t someone read the articles before they are posted?
Time is an issue (there is none), especially when checking things with a fine tooth comb that other people write, like this one. First mistake was a confusion with there being three records broken (not seasons). I’d love a sub. If you want to volunteer, that would be great!
If you don’t even read the articles yourself, how can you expect anyone else to?
No fine toothed comb required, as I said, the mistakes jump out if someone simply proofreads the article.
And please ask your writers to learn when apostrophes are and aren’t appropriate. I saw a great quote the other day: Grammar is the difference between “knowing your shit” and “knowing you’re shit”.
The main trick is to get more people on board to spread the load, so some things aren’t posted on the fly and there’s more time to read over other work, but reliability of other writers is always an issue. Still, at the end of the day, imagination and ideas are the main focus. Grammar can always be corrected (and it’s always good to have the sharper readers give us the heads-up, if they spot something).
I want him to be given some money to invest over the Summer. If results don’t improve, then he should go.
Yes we look clueless at the moment and play some boring football, but it hasn’t always been like this. When the team is on form we play some lovely passing triangles and are a very good team. 3/4 good players costing a total of £30 million is what I would like Lambert to do.
I realise I am in the minority with this opinion, but it’s my honest one.
This was kind of my feeling until the last six games and the management team suspension. It just seems to be falling apart at the seams for Lambert and I’ve kind of had enough.
perhaps rather than go all guns blazing @ Lambert, folk should be questioning why there has been the suggestion that there might be criminal proceedings against his 2 suspended deputies . It would not be the 1st time that there has been a falling out of friends especially when they are also colleagues , & that the juniors attempt to discredit the senior or worse . Could it be that behind his back the duo have been working to destabilise the team & @ the same time feed him duff info on the team ?
Buck stops at the manager since it was his long-term managerial team. He needed to get his house in order, if his managerial team was playing up. It’s as simple as that.
I agree. success is built on stability. the current fault lies squarely at the feet of Faulkner, Lerner and O’Neill. By RL’s own admission, PL had limited parameters in which to work. Give him the funds and one more year. Set a target of top 8-10. if he misses this target then it’s time to move on. But you cannot castigate the manager for the sins of the Chairman and his inept lapdog Faulkner!
Let the FM computer decide as that seems the only way to keep fans happy , not that in reality it would as constant change in the real world solves nothing !
Normally I’d agree, but the team has gotten worse this season and the games are so dreadful at times that I lost hope that the situation will improve by giving this manager more time. Admittedly, hasty change would be a bad idea. The problem runs deeper than just at the manager’s level. There is talent in the youth and reserve squads, but how many are actually converted to first team regulars? Instead lots of players were bought that showed initially a bit of promise, but stagnated early or never even got to that point. Not to mention the ever growing sh*t list of the players that were deemed too expensive/not in line with the manager’s ideas and can’t be permanently sold/taken off the books. To me that sounds like a failure on many levels. You need to establish a philosophy and a goal for the club and then appoint managers who are on board with that philosophy and manage somewhat accordingly. Instead we bring in someone every year who turns around everything to establish his personal philosophy only to reach a similarly dreadful type of football and close-to-relegation finish. My hopes for a “Lerner will sell” scenario are limited, but maybe it will provide a clean sheet to establish a new philosophy before making hasty changes. And while some might disagree I hope it’s not a “here’s a ton of cash, go nuts” approach.
Tuchel would be a very good fit, but I can’t see him moving to Villa. He will probably show his face on the European stage with Mainz next season and then see what he can get if he decides to move on. Also don’t count out Klopp replacing Löw as German head coach after the World Cup (if Germany disappoints). In that case Tuchel would likely be the next Dortmund manager.
Would prefer Moyes over Laudrup, Both great managers, but Laudrup always strikes me as the type that would treat Villa as a steppingstone for bigger things. Moyes on the other hand is already past that and would probably be happy to concentrate working long term with a PL team.
Its this rumour of Lerner selling and Lambert going thats keeping our hopes alive. What the hell do we do if Lerner doesnt sell and Lamberts still here next season
Would we like Harry Redknap if QPR would fail to reach premier league?
No sorry Aren I think Harry is a busted flush. I wouldnt want him near the Villa.
I think the fact you had to ask that instead of suggest it says it all really
Eddie Howe stop the lights avb has been shafted everywhere he has the record and looking toprove people wrong and jagoba arrasante is who I would chase down and offer him the job very exciting what he’s done at sociadad and he’s only 36 this month could bring some exciting young Spanish players than useless English one’s
Klinsman, Rijkard or Hoddle, for me, someone who can attract some over seas talent, and some old experienced player to mix it up.
Malky Mackay?? – Mr Bean would do better than that clueless wanker we have at present – God, I didn’t think anyone would make McLeish look half decent
A new manager would not make a scrap of difference if Lerner and Faulkner were to carry on. Jesus would struggle to get us back on track with this pair still running the show.
If a manger doesnt know how to instil a proper passing philosophy in his side, the rest of his qualities are worthless. The importance of it cannot be stressed enough. It is essential in the modern game. A manager can buy whoever he wants and be the best motivator in the game, but if his team isnt made to keep the ball on the ground, set their own pace and control games, there will always be a limit on what the team can achieve. Step forward Martin O’Neill and more importantly David Moyes, a manager im so p*ssed off to see other fans backing for the job. If a team hits the ball long to their forwards over and over every game, they are repeatedly throwing a dice, hoping their forwards can flick it on or knock it down for someone else. 4 out of 5 times the forward wont, possession will be lost, and the opposition will be on the attack. This means the team has no control of the game, and ultimately no control of their own fate. It may get a bit of success here and there, but the success isnt sustainable, and mediocrity will always be the end result overall.
In short, an emphatic NO to David Moyes and any other managers who dont embrace the modern game.
No to Moyes, I think he will be mentally exhausted and needs time off.
Di Matteo doesn’t fill me with confidence either. I quite like the idea of Tuchin or Yakin, but as a poster has pointed out who in their right mind would touch AVFC as the club is ATM. The new owners, if that happens would have to be very very persuasive money wise and show they have ambition.
Laudrup lost the dressing room, fighting, arguments etc the players went to Jenkins and laudrup had to go.
I don’t think any of them would want to manage a championship side!!
They better turn up against Hull cause everyone below us seem to be picking up points and we ain’t!
Frank Rijkaard could be a long shot. But I don’t see why not if we get a new owner. He has an attacking brand of football that we’re craving at the Villa
Laudrup 2.klinsman.3guardiola (one can dream)
theres none of them would touch the club with the state its in . its hard enough being a fan and being associated with villa not a mind being a great name in football and having your name dragged into the shit by managing us
Glenn hoddle for me! Never stopped coaching all over the world!
I’d have any of them – especially Klinsmann. Moyes would be 5th choice.
Murat yakin is definitely the one I’d choose.
Glen hoddle ??
Surely, Bobby Di Matteo has to be in the mix too? An interesting shout would be Eddie Howe, who’s made a real impression, getting an absolute minnow of a team to the cusp of the top flight.