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Smith announced on Sky at 8.30

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4 minutes ago, Sideshow Tim said:

Look at his record at this level. Says something very different...... 

For the record, I understand that. I also understand his time was up, but I was/am expecting/hoping for an upgrade and to say Farke wasn’t a respected/respectable coach in the Premier league is to rewrite history and is unfair and disrespectful to a guy that has been fantastic for us.

all in my  humble opinion of course.

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3 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

Apparently that's where we're headed anyway.....

🙃

Let’s not beat around the bush, it’s far more exciting and a5 least we can compete on an even keel in the Championship, isn’t that what football should be at every level? Until they make the EPL fair with salary caps and squad size it’s just a place to get our one season top up fund…..💚💛😉

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1 hour ago, Virtual reality said:

If the two options were Lampard and Smith, one of which wasn’t even available when the decision to sack Farke was made, then that is incompetence of the highest level from Webber.  Considering this is a man who we were told plans the future down to even his own replacement.

or he was on the list as is Hassenhuttl on the chance he becomes available. Webber is probably already planning the next manager in and various scenarios.

We may have even known there was a chance Smith was going to be available when Farke was sacked but felt comfortable with our plan B if he wasn't. We can only speculate what has happened behind the scenes but Smith is a solid appointment if it is him.

The Farke sacking has been one that has been brewing basically his entire premiership career whereas Dean Smith was by all accounts doing a good job until 80th minute vs Wolves the other week. Things change quickly in football

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2 minutes ago, Indy said:

Let’s not beat around the bush, it’s far more exciting and a5 least we can compete on an even keel in the Championship, isn’t that what football should be at every level? Until they make the EPL fair with salary caps and squad size it’s just a place to get our one season top up fund…..💚💛😉

But it doesn't work like that because whatever the level we turn up wanting to win. So if we go down we will want to come straight back up. Anyway with wanting to win the 27 games left I haven't given up on staying up this season.🙃 The big shame is that we missed last season😪

 

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8 minutes ago, Coneys Knee said:

For the record, I understand that. I also understand his time was up, but I was/am expecting/hoping for an upgrade and to say Farke wasn’t a respected/respectable coach in the Premier league is to rewrite history and is unfair and disrespectful to a guy that has been fantastic for us.

all in my  humble opinion of course.

I get that CK, and trust me, I'm with you so come up with another option..... At this rate we'll end up with Bruce or Big Sam. 

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1 hour ago, ricardo said:

I said at the time that sacking Farke was a knee jerk reaction but it runs a poor second to this one. It smacks of desperation.

It is clear now that the boy Webber had no clue as to Farke's replacement when he was sacked. It reveals that Webber is not as clever as he thinks he is (nor as others have thought him to be hitherto).  

It enforces my belief that McNasty was better at managerial succession planning than Webber as both Lambert and Alex Neil were decisively head-hunted, as opposed to going through an interview process with a field of candidates. As soon as you go for interviews, as opposed to head-hunting, it means you don't know who you want and are just relying on what the candidates say at the interviews - which is an imperfect demonstration of ability to do the job. Gerrard to Villa was a classic example of head-hunting. The boy Purslow knew who he wanted and simply went and got him. All done and dusted.

I smell a rat. I detect the hand of Delia in all this. The club has gone back to the bad old days of appointing managers as if it was the same as any other job. It isn't. The boy Leopard dropped out because he felt he should have been head-hunted. As soon as he saw another candidate involved he felt unwanted. Now I am not saying I wanted Leopard. On the contrary, anyone but Leopard (except Russell Martin). I am merely extolling the merits of head-hunting as opposed to interviews. 

The way Norwich have gone about this feeds into narrative of the club being national laughing stock. Wanting to do different might be normal for Norfolk, but nationally and internationally looks rather silly and amateurish. 

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Just now, nutty nigel said:

But it doesn't work like that because whatever the level we turn up wanting to win. So if we go down we will want to come straight back up. Anyway with wanting to win the 27 games left I haven't given up on staying up this season.🙃 The big shame is that we missed last season😪

 

Indeed, but reality is we need to build year on year to strengthen our squad and finances, I didn’t think we’d stay up still don’t, Farke gets so much out of young players and two time promotion, we need a manager who can get us up again…..if we can’t stay up this time then we go again next time! Smith spent over £180 million to keep Villa up!

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1 minute ago, Indy said:

Indeed, but reality is we need to build year on year to strengthen our squad and finances, I didn’t think we’d stay up still don’t, Farke gets so much out of young players and two time promotion, we need a manager who can get us up again…..if we can’t stay up this time then we go again next time! Smith spent over £180 million to keep Villa up!

We'll see. I have a little more hope than that. Webber did what he said he would do even down to the last relegation. Then we came straight back and now he's working at keeping us there. He's done enough so far to be at least given the chance.

On here everyone thinks we're already relegated and yet seem to think the next coach could be responsible for it. It doesnt make sense to me!

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2 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

Better than Lampard, certainly. The Connor Southwell piece is worth a read, and makes a fair case, while admitting the cons, and makes me a touch more optimistic than I was. He certainly sounds more like a head coach, which is what we want, than Lampard.  What I heard on a Guardian podcast was that Ings was signed over his head and trying to fit him and Watkins into the side caused a problem.

If it is Smith I would be interested to know who his coaches will be. I gather he lost John Terry some time ago, and I assume he wouldn’t be signed up.

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32 minutes ago, Indy said:

I’m not sure you deserve any criticism Hogy as you I don’t think many of us wanted either really! I rather kept Farke! When he was sacked I thought we had someone far better lined up, still hope we have! 💚💛

Cheers. 

For me neither Lampard or Smith is a step up from Farke. Lampard was slightly more exciting but Smith had the relevant, better experience.

Neither would class as big upgrades though in my book.

Equally, I knew nothing of Farke when he joined. 

So if its Smith there's every chance he proves me wrong, and at the very least you know he will be given the chance to do that here.

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Just now, hogesar said:

Cheers. 

For me neither Lampard or Smith is a step up from Farke. Lampard was slightly more exciting but Smith had the relevant, better experience.

Neither would class as big upgrades though in my book.

Equally, I knew nothing of Farke when he joined. 

So if its Smith there's every chance he proves me wrong, and at the very least you know he will be given the chance to do that here.

👍

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2 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

If it is Smith I would be interested to know who his coaches will be. I gather he lost John Terry some time ago, and I assume he wouldn’t be signed up.

Smith has gone downhill since he lost his assistants. The dynamic within the coaching team is massively important.

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4 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

We'll see. I have a little more hope than that. Webber did what he said he would do even down to the last relegation. Then we came straight back and now he's working at keeping us there. He's done enough so far to be at least given the chance.

On here everyone thinks we're already relegated and yet seem to think the next coach could be responsible for it. It doesnt make sense to me!

Statistics show we’re up against it this season, but you never know in football, we might just pull ourselves out of the bottom three come May!👍😉

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4 minutes ago, Big Vince said:

Smith has gone downhill since he lost his assistants. 

I assume in some Machiavellian way Delia was responsible for that.

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No one on here has a clue how good a coach either Farke or Smith are. Not a clue. All we can look at is results. I remain convinced that this appointment is about keeping us in the Premier League and, to be blunt, if it is to be Smith, he has more chance of doing that than Farke, KK or Favre.

I'm not convinced yet that it will be Smith, but I'm not going to be unhappy if it is. I think he'll have a point to prove and his record to date suggests that we will have a chance. I don't think Farke ever showed any real understanding of how to set up a team in this league.

I'm not sure the players are good enough but after 11 games, we have hardly seen half of them so it's quite hard to know.

 

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The reality is we have zero say, it’ll be whoever wants the job and fits the best profile for Webber. We can all have an opinion and that’s just it! But whoever gets the gig it’s going to be a tough ride coming after Farke, if we lose the next four or five on the bounce I doubt there will be any leniency given by our fans!

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Remember the 5-1 drubbing at home  Smith totally out witted Farke and we didnt have a clue.  IMO Smith  could be a smart move. As with all appointments we will never know if it will work out but at least he has experience and has kept viila in the league. Ok he has spent a lot of money but you still have to buy the right players and they still need coaching and set up in the right way  to win games.  Just because you have money it still does not mean your guaranteed sucess in fact it brings its own pressures and he dealt with them very well IMO.

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6 hours ago, Sideshow Tim said:

I get that CK, and trust me, I'm with you so come up with another option..... At this rate we'll end up with Bruce or Big Sam. 

I’d love to be able to give you a name as a real option but, the truth is, my knowledge of football coaches isn’t very varied or wide.


I know the usual suspects and that is about it, and honestly,  NONE of those really inspire me at all or give me confidence that they are the upgrade on Farke we’re going to need. That’s why I can say with confidence that I wouldn’t be happy with Smith but that I don’t know who I would like, because the reality is, I don’t know any realistic options and the ones I might vaguely like the sound of, I don’t know enough about to be able to suggest them with any conviction.

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6 hours ago, sgncfc said:

No one on here has a clue how good a coach either Farke or Smith are. Not a clue. All we can look at is results. I remain convinced that this appointment is about keeping us in the Premier League and, to be blunt, if it is to be Smith, he has more chance of doing that than Farke, KK or Favre.

I'm not convinced yet that it will be Smith, but I'm not going to be unhappy if it is. I think he'll have a point to prove and his record to date suggests that we will have a chance. I don't think Farke ever showed any real understanding of how to set up a team in this league.

I'm not sure the players are good enough but after 11 games, we have hardly seen half of them so it's quite hard to know.

 

This is a great post. People keep saying they 'know' things when in reality nobody knows anything for certain. I can't say for certain that Daniel would have taken us down again but I think the odds were pretty high. We need a fresh start and if Smith gets the job it's quite possible he will provide us with a bounce and start playing our flair players who might prove to be good enough to keep us up after all. Which would I suppose make Smith a better coach than Farke too.

Or he could fail and we will get relegated again. Time will tell because nobody knows anything with any degree of certainty at all despite thinking they do. 

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10 hours ago, duke63 said:

Managerial record...underwhelmimg doesn't begin to describe it.

 

Walsall

 

 

4 January 2011

 

 

30 November 2015

 

Pl

 260

 

W

84

 

D

96

 

L

80

 

 

32.31

[101]
Brentford 30 November 2015 10 October 2018 143 57 35 51 39.86 [101]
Aston Villa 10 October 2018 7 November 2021 139 55 28 56 39.5

I've just had an aneurysm tryna make sense of this 🤣

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Dean Smith. Another Mr Nice, compliant, guy that won't rock the boat. Don't expect the little ol' Norwich rhetoric to change any time soon, he'll be wheeling that regularly in interviews. 

A decent coach, nothing more. The players will like him, but will he motivate and inspire - I have serious doubts.  Completely un-inspiring move all round. 

Why did we sack Farke without a replacement in mind? Every other EPL club does this. Most Champs too. Are we really that small minded? Nobody needs answer that. A very disappointing outcome. 

How many other EPL clubs in search of a manager would consider Smith? None, I'd confidently say. Without Norwich, he'd be taking a job back in the championship with a Derby / Forest type of side. Well, I suppose, the uncomfortable reality is that's exactly what he's done.  

 

 

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If it is smith, I wouldn't be unhappy. I think he stands quite a good chance of keeping us up. The underlying feeling with smith though is.....he's not a flair/ncfc coach of recent. I think kk, favre feel more inkeeping with 'our' way of doing it. A lesser known left field choice, who (if we do go down) will cause a stir in the championship (biesla-leeds style). 

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Trouble is all we've got to go on is Sky saying they're in the know. Norwich haven't made any signals or statements to the effect Smith is likely to be appointed. If it is Smith I'll get behind him and see how things go. He got Villa promoted and then kept them up for two seasons in a row, money or not, and this season things weren't clicking (I do notice Ings and bailey haven't played much with injuries whether that counts for anything)

I'm still hoping Norwich and Webber are doing things under the radar and media are just printing the obvious stories to get a story. Our local journalists seem to have followed suite as soon as anything has been printed, so I'm hoping they're not in the know. Seems slightly odd we get paddy daviitt saying early Sat there will be no announcement in next 24, likley 48 hours, and later that day Sky saying we're about offer Smith the job. Has someone leaked something, or are they sniffing around and trying to make 2+2=4?

 

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11 hours ago, duke63 said:

Managerial record...underwhelmimg doesn't begin to describe it.

 

Walsall

 

 

4 January 2011

 

 

30 November 2015

 

Pl

 260

 

W

84

 

D

96

 

L

80

 

 

32.31

[101]
Brentford 30 November 2015 10 October 2018 143 57 35 51 39.86 [101]
Aston Villa 10 October 2018 7 November 2021 139 55 28 56 39.5

His wins exceed his losses albeit marginally. Such stats are only informative when judged against the expect expectations of the team he was managing at the time. Walsall and Brentford aren't big fish.

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The thing is the fans still wanted Farke to turn it around, even if they believed he couldn't. It seems the majority don't even want Smith to be given the chance.

It matters not which one is better just that Carrow Rd would be full of more pissed off fans than it started with.

Hopefully if Webber reads this forum or someone from the club does then they need to take a step back and consider if Smith would be a wise appointment?

I would suggest the answer is no.

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Villa fan in peace- I honestly think Deano is getting a bad rap on here and people not actually realising what a good job he has done throughout his career. So stick with me- I'll try and settle your minds a bit on it.

Smith had his coaching education as assistant to Martin Ling at Leyton Orient before moving to Walsall as a Youth Coach. He took over as Caretaker Manager at Walsall before being given the Head Coach job. Remember this is Walsall, a club who sell their best players, never re-invest any money and solely rely on loans and free transfers. Under Smith, they were regularly challenging at the top of League 1, vying for promotion to the Championship. They were 2nd when he left for Brentford and they lost out in the play-offs to Barnsley in the end. Walsall have nosedived since and are just keeping their heads afloat in League 2.

At Brentford he went in and took Brentford from a bottom half club to vying for the play-offs each and every season. Together with the smart recruitment strategy at Brentford, he developed so many players. Ollie Watkins was brought in from Exeter for pennies, sold for 30m. Benrahma another one. There are so many examples. He left Brentford for one reason and it was the Villa job, but he left them in a really healthy place for Thomas Frank, his assistant to continue the work done and fight for promotion, which eventually happened. 

He came into Villa which was an absolute sorry state at the time. Hours away from liquidation until our new owners came in and saved the day. Bruce with his backwards recruitment left us with one fit centre half and another playing with an injury which eventually cost him his Villa career (James Chester). Smith came in and instantly galvanised the place- yes you could say we had the likes of Grealish, Abraham and McGinn- top players at that level but Grealish was nothing like the Jack Grealish you think of today. He took him under his wing and took him on that journey to the player he is today. Without Smith, Grealish was nothing. We had a good run when he first came in, dipped a bit in the new year when Grealish was injured. Smith went about correcting the unbalanced side Bruce had left by loaning Mings & Hause in the January. Then from sitting in 13th, took us on a club record 10 game winning run which culminated in the play-off final at Wembley in the May, beating Frank Lampard's Derby. When he came in, the owners wanted promotion within a couple of seasons- Dean did it within 7 months. 

Whilst promotion was great, it left us some big problems. We lost 15 members of our playing staff due to contracts expiring or loans returning to their parent clubs. People will talk about how Villa spent £120m that summer but it was on 11 players at a average of 9m per player. And we had to do that as we literally had no squad- we had to somehow build a squad ready for whatever league we were playing in. Yes we were fortunate we had the backing of the very wealthy and ambitious owners, but even so, it was never going to be an easy task. We were okay until Christmas, keeping our heads above water. We struggled in the New Year, despite making it to the League Cup Final after beating Leicester over 2 legs in the Semi-Final. We were on a bad run which coincided with losing Heaton, McGinn and Wesley to long term injuries and COVID struck and probably saved our season and Dean's job. He was able to take stock over lockdown, came back and we had a much improved defence and ended the season with 4 matches unbeaten to stay up. Some will say hawk-eye kept us up, but worth remembering there were 9 and a half fixtures left following that incident- so much football still to play.

And then that summer we replaced the Sporting Director, brought in some smart signings such as Watkins, Cash and Martinez, and tied Grealish down to a new deal. Had a strong first half of the season and everyone through Europe was on the cards. We stuttered somewhat, again coincided with injuries to Grealish, Barkley & Traore and finished 11th. The summer is where it kind of unraveled, Richard O'Kelly and John Terry both left for different reasons, leaving Smith a bit vulnerable. A couple of new coaches came in on the advice of the Sporting Director/Owners and it never seemed to click. Losing Grealish was massive, yes we took 100m but he was our talisman, he was Aston Villa and replacing him was going to be difficult. Again injuries have been rife- we still are yet to see Danny Ings, Buendia & Leon Bailey on the same pitch for more than 15 minutes together. We have had some flashes of brilliance this season, winning at Old Trafford and hammering Everton at Villa Park but overall it has not been great- but as I say there are various reasons for that happening. I was still convinced Smith would have turned it around, because he always does.

Most of all, he is such a good man, a good footballing man. He is adaptable, understands he makes mistakes and works to put them right. He is a brilliant man manager who builds strong relationships with his players. The players were gutted when he left Villa last week. Predominantly plays a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 and will certainly get Gilmour & Cantwell in the team if he joins you guys. When it really works for Smith, it really works and the football can be a joy to watch. It's important he gets his right backroom team in. If he could bring O'Kelly and Shakespeare alongside him, you guys would be fine.

He's not a sexy name but for where you guys are I genuinely think he is a perfect fit. He has experience of a relegation battle and if worst comes to the worst and you go down, he has extensive knowledge and experience of the Championship and you'd back him to get you straight back up. I hope he takes the job as the guy deserves it. 

Villa fans are so grateful to him, came in when we were floundering for a 3rd season in the Championship in 15th place- he leaves us as a regular fixture again in the Premier League, albeit going through a bad patch but with the tools to improve once again.

Good luck for the rest of the season. 

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Thank Christ none of the muppets on here choose our manager! Farke better than Smith? Delusion of the highest order ffs!

 

The record of both in the top flight are total opposite ffs, yet people say Farke is better? No wonder we are a laughing stock in football right now with comments like this?

And as for saying Martin fits our ethos, is that the ethos that has seen us as an embarrassment the last two times in the top flight? Yet you’d rather have a former player who’s done sweet FA ? 
 

Little old Norwich syndrome is living on isn’t it? 
 

 

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