I
have seen plenty of support for David Moyes, Brendan Rodgers and even,
worryingly, Nigel Pearson. Quite frankly, I am pleased with avoiding all of
these candidates.
I
don't get the David Moyes thing at all. Yes, his record at Everton was solid,
if unspectacular. However, do not be fooled into the myth that the Toffees were
operating on a shoestring. There were some shrewd purchases of course, but
Moyes has somehow kept a reputation in tact despite expensive let downs such as
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov for £9.5 million (which also buys you an N'Zogbia
incidentally), Andy Johnson for £9 million, Yakubu for £11.5 million, James
Beattie for £7 million...etc. The guy had money to spend. There was also plenty of
fuss from Evertonians about the football being boring and there were no real
tears when he departed. Which bring us onto examining how completely out of his
depth he was at Old Trafford. To be absolutely fair, I think pretty much any
manager would've struggled to step into that position at that time. But Moyes
made a real hash of it, unable to attract any of his targets and panic buying
Marouane Fellaini for near £30million as a last resort. He struggled to get a tune out of the
payers he inherited which had just won the league and the Theatre of Dreams
were treated to a weekly showing of dour football, unseen for many-a-year. As I
say, this was a thankless and unenviable task, and so to some extent, this
chapter can be overlooked due to those circumstances. However, what I really do not understand is the way
people seem to be completely overlooking the fact that he is failing in his
current job in La Liga at Real Sociedad, taking an unspectacular 9 points from
10 games so far and languishing towards the bottom of the table. Why there is
any excitement about this guy at all is beyond me.
As
for Brendan Rodgers, this is a man who Tim Sherwood gave a tactics masterclass
to. That should be enough to sound alarm bells. In case it isn't, Liverpool
fans will tell you how irritating it was to hear that 'the lads had done
brilliantly' every single week, despite obviously having not done brilliantly
at all. Perhaps worse of all is the man's transfer dealings - £15 million for Joe
Allen. £20 million for Lazar Markovic. Of course there were some successes, but
if you throw enough shit, some of it sticks. His big outlays have been flops.
With
Moyes and Rodgers I believe that many fans just see that they've been at Man
Utd and Liverpool and so think they must be good. There is a reason they aren't
at those clubs anymore and a reason why they are being linked with us.
As
for Nigel Pearson, I couldn't think of a person more suited to break down
morale even further than it already is. The guy is borderline psychopath.
And so this leaves us with Remi Garde. And the more I find out about him, the more I like him.
Firstly,
I would like to say that the board should be commended for decisive action.
Initially in terminating Sherwood's contract and also for identifying their
target replacement. Regardless of whether it turns out to be right or wrong, it
is impressive action rather than dithering over it. Tim's day had come, and
despite me wanting him to succeed, he had to go after that defeat to Swansea.
You cannot lose 8 or your first 10 games in a season. Contact with Garde had
obviously been established before the decision was made to axe Tim. Underhand?
Perhaps. But certainly the only way to do this kind of business. As soon as the
news broke that Sherwood had been sacked, Garde was as short as 1/4 to be our
next manager. It was pretty much done and dusted, with the holdup coming as a
result of Lyon being unwilling to release Garde's preferred right hand men.
As
I was saying, I like this appointment and I can see sense in it. The problem
is, it's difficult to get too excited about. But this is due to unfamiliarity,
rather than anything lacking.
The
arguments against Garde are pretty shallow and weak. The one which irritates me
most is that he is unheard of. Sigh. I despair when I see this just blurted
out. He may be unknown to you, but that doesn't mean he is unheard of, and it
certainly doesn't mean he will be useless!
A
close second is the fact he has no Premier League experience. So what. The
Premier League is littered with examples of managers who have done extremely
well with no prior experience of English football. I'm sure if Jurgen Klopp had
walked through our doors, we'd not be worrying about it so much. Football is
football. Yes, the styles are different, the pace may be quicker. But for a
manager, as long as they can implement ideas, have a relationship with their
players and get the best out of them, then that is what is important. A barrier
could be not knowing the language, but by all accounts, Garde speaks perfect
English from his time at Arsenal as a player.
As
the board have adopted the sporting director set up, it makes sense to choose a
manager used to working under these conditions. Whether it is right or wrong,
at this moment doesn't matter. The fact is, until the current board disband or
there is a takeover, that is the route they have gone down. Sherwood evidently
had a problem with it, and the recruitment issues became a big part of the
reason he isn't our manager still. It is more commonplace in the continent, and
hopefully Garde will take to it better which will at east eliminate any of that
type of friction.
Although
having not managed in a relegation scrap situation before, Garde's tenure at
Lyon was not plain sailing. After a period of dominance in Ligue 1, Lyon could
not financially match the likes of PSG and Monaco and were forced to become
more of a selling club. Whilst undoubtedly talent remained there, Garde could
not solely rely upon superstars to make his life easier. He was forced to bring
through youth and to generally operate on a budget. Which sounds extremely
familiar. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be able to work wonders
at Villa (for example, Lyon's youth system included the now potent Alexandre
Lacazette) it is good to know that he is a manager who can nurture youth and
develop players who do display talent. Jack Grealish especially should continue
to benefit from this, and maybe even Gary Gardner can finally force an
impression.
A
benefit which cannot be ignored is simply the fact that he is French.
Considering our current influx of French speaking players, Garde can surely
only help to settle them. By all accounts, Jordan Veretout is struggling
especially, and Jordan Amavi isn't having the best of times with the language
also. This will come in time, but it can only be a good thing to have your
manager on the same level as you. I still believe Veretout to be a potentially
important player for us, and Amavi has certainly shown enough already to
display his talent, despite having a rough time in being dropped for the last
couple of league games. These are young men in a foreign country at the end of
the day. If you were starting a new job abroad, and didn't speak the language
and your manager couldn't really communicate back to you either, it would be
pretty tough.
Garde
is a manager who has performed in the Europa League, Champions League and has
also won the French equivalent of the F.A Cup. Whilst he may not have hundreds
of games under his belt as manager, he is not a complete novice by any means.
He is tactically astute by all accounts, and likes to play attacking football
building from the back.
The
arguments for Garde seem to stack up favourably and, to me, make sense. The real
negative is that, despite all this, he does still represent a gamble. There is
an unknown quality to all this. But to be honest, we're pretty much drinking in
the last chance saloon now anyway - I don't see any other manager out there
available who could guarantee us safety.
As I finish this, Villa have just lost 3-1 to
Spurs and Garde is confirmed as our new manager. Sitting sandwiched between Tom
Fox and Paddy Reilly in the stands, Garde looked deep in thought. Right now,
Aston Villa is as much as a gamble for Garde's reputation as he is for us.
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