MOMS is pretty apathetic to the Aston Villa managerial situation – winning games and putting an end to this shambles are the only interests now – but it’s interesting to note the method to the madness of reporting on managerial vacancies.
Lame Late Runners
Once the candidate is nailed down (for example, Steve Bruce for Villa) and it’s in a period of negotiating a contract and terms, it’s a dead story for the press. So what are they going to do in this period of quiet? Well, seemingly keep the managerial race alive.
There seems to be a growing trend for another candidate to be suddenly thrown into the mix at the last minute, just to keep the story alive.
In the case of the latest Villa position, step forward Burnley boss Sean Dyche.
Already today, we’ve seen the full cycle – ‘betting odds drop’ story, ‘late interest story’, followed by the ‘he was never approached by Villa’ story.
Of course, common sense is a factor that both the writers and readers of these stories tend to lack.
Sean Dyche is loyal to Burnley to the extent he stayed with them despite getting relegated from the Premier League to then bring them straight back up. His DNA is invested into that team and he is the heartbeat of the club, so why give it up to gamble on a struggling Championship team that over the last few years has become a circus and can over no guarantees? Why would he quit Burnley mid-season?
Such is the Premier League TV rights money now, that if you’re not in the Premier League to quote the film Bladerunner – “you’re little people”.
Burnley are in a much better position than Villa and if they stay in the Premier League this season, it will be a firm step towards properly reconnecting the club with their glory years of many decades ago.
Also, from Villa’s point of view, the experienced Steve Bruce, who has several promotions to his name, will not cost the compensation that they would have to fork out to Burnley. So why would they go down that messy and time consuming route?
Whether Dyche was interested or not, the reality is such approaches would only be likely to end in success in preseason.
Betting Bluff
With betting companies increasingly involved in driving stories to attract punters’ bets, it’s hard to believe there’s really been any serious interest in the market for major bets on Dyche. Of course, if they throw it out there, the media will use it to run ‘another’ story and the betting company gets PR and might attract some additional business.
As MOMS stated before RDM was sacked, Steve Clarke as caretaker manager did give Villa a luxury of time whether they were going to announce somebody before the next game vs Wolves, or not – but they didn’t need it.
Keith Wyness, Steve Round and Brian Little though have acted quickly only needing a week to nail their choice of Steve Bruce – who being out of work, offered up no complications on top of his Championship experience.
Pat Murphy of the BBC Radio Five claims that Steve Clarke had an interview for the job on Monday, but it’s been common knowledge over the weekend to MOMS that Bruce was going to be announced as Villa boss in the middle of this week – check out our podcast below, which was recorded several days ago.
Murphy also claimed there is another potential candidate for the job, that hasn’t been approached yet. Catch up son. Also, even if it was Dyche vs Bruce, factor in the upheaval and compensation package needed for the former, then there’s only one real choice there.
Bruce Ahoy!
The devil is in the detail, but a short-term contract that extends based on a successful outcome to this season, would be the way to go with Bruce (although he’s obviously going to secure a longer-term commitment). So then the management situation can be re-evaluated again before next season’s preseason begins, if they’re no Brucey bonuses on the pitch during the rest of the season.
Anyway, as stated at the start of the article. MOMS is only interested in wins now. So, Steve Bruce you know what to do against Wolves…oh, and obviously against the Blues.
UTV
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Simply got to climb out of the Championship, and Bruce has the experience. It’s funny, but when it comes down to it, there aren’t a lot of credible choices. Bruce also knows about defence. My bet is they’ll be working a lot harder at the back and Richards will be recalled.
They knew from the moment they were thinking of sacking the manager, who they were going after .
Indeed. Only a fool would sack any manager without having an inkling of who they would replace him with.
think the Dyche rumour came from within the club ! But possibly a case of wishfull thinking . I’m not sure about Villa’s longterm future with Bruce at the helm . But Dyche may have been seen as the present & the future . But there was always the issue of whether he’d leave Burnley
True about the long-term. i think Xia is taking a leap of faith with his board & recruitment team.