Dean Smith Takes Over Aston Villa

[Danny]

1 minute ago, The Palace Fan said:

A part of me will be surprised if Dean Smith will have much of a say in transfers given they're intending on bringing in a director of football and have forced an assistant manager on him. 

Fingers crossed anyway, Brentford are looked at as a side where you can sign somebody for a reasonable price. Chris Mepham for example looks like he's taylor made to already shift in to that Aston Villa starting eleven.

Tell that to Swansea who wouldn't budge on .5m 

I don't think a Championship club can justify spending £20m+ on a centre back, more likely to sell him to Bournemouth in the Summer if we don't go up.

[Fairy In Boots]

21 minutes ago, Stan said:

Didn't Brentford's last manager do this and they ended up missing out on promotion after starting well? 

When will Brentford be able to stave off clubs from poaching their best assets? 

Rumoured compensation is 300k that sounds awfully cheap. 

8 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Well, if anything it's going to be a great challenge for Dean Smith. He's going completely out of his comfort zone at a side he loves. If he was ever going to make this jump, now is it as he's joining Villa at a time when fans will be craving his style of football.

I would be pretty sceptical about joining a team where the backroom staff are effectively being decided for you. I guess that's the sacrifice he's willing to make for a job he's always wanted.

Brentford I imagine will be fine, there recruitment is often very good and from what Danny has said the assistant manager effectively shares the same mindset as Dean Smith so it should be a quick transition for them.

 

5 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

A part of me will be surprised if Dean Smith will have much of a say in transfers given they're intending on bringing in a director of football and have forced an assistant manager on him. 

Fingers crossed anyway, Brentford are looked at as a side where you can sign somebody for a reasonable price. Chris Mepham for example looks like he's taylor made to already shift in to that Aston Villa starting eleven.

It’s interesting that he’s “head coach” and not “manager”, Terry likewise is “assistant coach” I suspect a full infrastructure is being put into place. Coaches don’t tend to take their backroom staff with them, which is what Villa badly need. 

A sporting Director has been named, I think coaches and scouting infrastructure will continue apace. Smith will be given the task of installing a style of play across the club, and producing continuity throughout the various team, there’s talented kids there. 

[Dave]

1 minute ago, Danny said:

Tell that to Swansea who wouldn't budge on .5m 

I don't think a Championship club can justify spending £20m+ on a centre back, more likely to sell him to Bournemouth in the Summer if we don't go up.

Do Brentford value him at over twenty million?

I imagine he would hit that value after one good season in the Premier League, but that seems significantly more than you've valued any other player.

That whole Ryan Woods scenario was ridiculous really. I know the market didn't inflate like it had done in previous years but he had done more than enough over the past season to earn that price tag.

[Smiley Culture]

13 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Well, if anything it's going to be a great challenge for Dean Smith. He's going completely out of his comfort zone at a side he loves. If he was ever going to make this jump, now is it as he's joining Villa at a time when fans will be craving his style of football.

I would be pretty sceptical about joining a team where the backroom staff are effectively being decided for you. I guess that's the sacrifice he's willing to make for a job he's always wanted.

Brentford I imagine will be fine, there recruitment is often very good and from what Danny has said the assistant manager effectively shares the same mindset as Dean Smith so it should be a quick transition for them.

I personally think Smith is joining a like-for-like, or as similar as you could get, club in Villa. He’ll have little say on transfers, that’ll be someone else’s job, and he’ll have to coach the players he’s given, much like he’s done at Brentford. Arguably, he’s got a better squad already at Villa than he’s had at Brentford. 

[Dave]

Just now, Fairy In Boots said:

Rumoured compensation is 300k that sounds awfully cheap. 

 

It’s interesting that he’s “head coach” and not “manager”, Terry likewise is “assistant coach” I suspect a full infrastructure is being put into place. Coaches don’t tend to take their backroom staff with them, which is what Villa badly need. 

A sporting Director has been named, I think coaches and scouting infrastructure will continue apace. Smith will be given the task of installing a style of play across the club, and producing continuity throughout the various team, there’s talented kids there. 

Is there much hope for Hepburn-Murphy and Green? They both looked decent in small flashes last year.

[Danny]

Just now, The Palace Fan said:

Do Brentford value him at over twenty million?

I imagine he would hit that value after one good season in the Premier League, but that seems significantly more than you've valued any other player.

That whole Ryan Woods scenario was ridiculous really. I know the market didn't inflate like it had done in previous years but he had done more than enough over the past season to earn that price tag.

We've rejected bids from Bournemouth valued at £15m, our DoF has confirmed we value him at a higher price than we've ever sold anyone.

The kid is 20, Premier League made and has a very high ceiling. I think Bournemouth may regret not going for him at our price last time around because of we're not up this season then more Premier League sides will be taking note now he has a full season in him.

[Dave]

3 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

I personally think Smith is joining a like-for-like, or as similar as you could get, club in Villa. He’ll have little say on transfers, that’ll be someone else’s job, and he’ll have to coach the players he’s given, much like he’s done at Brentford. Arguably, he’s got a better squad already at Villa than he’s had at Brentford. 

What i meant by out of his comfort zone is that the expectancy to achieve at Aston Villa is significantly higher to that at both Brentford at this level and Walsall in League One.

[Danny]

2 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

I personally think Smith is joining a like-for-like, or as similar as you could get, club in Villa. He’ll have little say on transfers, that’ll be someone else’s job, and he’ll have to coach the players he’s given, much like he’s done at Brentford. Arguably, he’s got a better squad already at Villa than he’s had at Brentford. 

Smith had more input on our transfers than he's given credit for, but the final decision obviously isn't on him.

Its easy to set up a DoF and the like but then you've got to have an operations system in place to make it work. Smith could well be walking into a mess wrapped up in modern football talk.

I do wonder who he can or can't go for, if there are players he can't sign due to being made aware of them through our own systems.

[Fairy In Boots]

3 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

Is there much hope for Hepburn-Murphy and Green? They both looked decent in small flashes last year.

Hepburn Murphy too lightweight, Green needs games which he’s getting at Pompey. 

Mitch Clark will hopefully solve the LB issue in Jan when recalled from Port Vale where he’s doing really well

[Lucas]

Be interesting to see how Smith copes with working with Terry. I find it so odd that it didnt matter who was going to be the main man, they had to co operate and work with Terry as a number 2. Very unusual.

Obviously Smith is ok with this but most you'd think would stick with the man they have generally had at their side each club they have been at. We will see what difference this makes. 

[Danny]

3 hours ago, Lucas said:

Be interesting to see how Smith copes with working with Terry. I find it so odd that it didnt matter who was going to be the main man, they had to co operate and work with Terry as a number 2. Very unusual.

Obviously Smith is ok with this but most you'd think would stick with the man they have generally had at their side each club they have been at. We will see what difference this makes. 

His assistant O'Kelly has joined him at Villa. We had two assistants so I imagine it'll be similar at Villa with Terry taking a learning role.

[Lucas]

12 hours ago, Danny said:

His assistant O'Kelly has joined him at Villa. We had two assistants so I imagine it'll be similar at Villa with Terry taking a learning role.

Oh I see, not so bad then. 

It'll be nice to hear @Fairy In Boots a bit happier on here now.

[Fairy In Boots]

14 hours ago, Danny said:

His assistant O'Kelly has joined him at Villa. We had two assistants so I imagine it'll be similar at Villa with Terry taking a learning role.

 

46 minutes ago, Lucas said:

Oh I see, not so bad then. 

It'll be nice to hear @Fairy In Boots a bit happier on here now.

Terry wasn’t forced on Smith although we wanted to bring him in anyway. Apparently they’ve known each other years anyway and Smith had to ok it. 

40,000 + expected v Swansea at the weekend, that’s how fucking bad Bruce has been. 

Think he’ll take a dozen games to get us going but it’s a start and it’s pleasing that we’ll have a style of play to identify with. 

[Danny]

Smith is known for having long spells throughout a season where things don't go great, but then going on a good run and eventually balancing things out.

[Fairy In Boots]

10 minutes ago, Danny said:

Smith is known for having long spells throughout a season where things don't go great, but then going on a good run and eventually balancing things out.

Won’t get that sort of tolerance from us, once you get past 3-4 bad results it turns and quickly. 

Also apparently there’s money to spend without FFP worries so his brief now will be playoffs minimum. 

January it will be a centre back & left back we buy

[Dave]

Given Steve Bruce was a Glenn Whelan stoppage time penalty away from fifth place I imagine that promotion will still be an expectancy.

[Fairy In Boots]

8 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

Given Steve Bruce was a Glenn Whelan stoppage time penalty away from fifth place I imagine that promotion will still be an expectancy.

He was light years away and was abused before kick off, he was done regardless

[Dave]

3 hours ago, Fairy In Boots said:

He was light years away and was abused before kick off, he was done regardless

Doesn't change the fact you would have been 5th, and therefore promotion should still be an expectancy.

[Fairy In Boots]

7 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

Doesn't change the fact you would have been 5th, and therefore promotion should still be an expectancy.

It is the expectation, Smith said as much in his first press conference. Something along the lines of “with this squad, promotion is the aim” 

Liam Rosenior is quickly becoming my favourite pundit has us weighed up completely, we’re not a coehesive unit at all, we attack as individuals and we defend as individuals. If you sort that out which will take time then we’ll walk this league. 

There’s this perception that Bruce has done a good job, he hasn’t he’s an awful manager. 

[Dave]

6 hours ago, Fairy In Boots said:

It is the expectation, Smith said as much in his first press conference. Something along the lines of “with this squad, promotion is the aim” 

Liam Rosenior is quickly becoming my favourite pundit has us weighed up completely, we’re not a coehesive unit at all, we attack as individuals and we defend as individuals. If you sort that out which will take time then we’ll walk this league. 

There’s this perception that Bruce has done a good job, he hasn’t he’s an awful manager. 

He clearly isn't an awful manager and that's evident in his track record at this level which speaks for itself regardless of whether Villa fans weren't appreciative of the style of play.

[Fairy In Boots]

10 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

He clearly isn't an awful manager and that's evident in his track record at this level which speaks for itself regardless of whether Villa fans weren't appreciative of the style of play.

He is by today’s standard’s the game is advancing rapidly, Mike Bassett-esque Bruce types are becoming ineffective and irrelevant. Even Mourinho has been surpassed by the way the game has gone. 

[Dave]

46 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said:

He is by today’s standard’s the game is advancing rapidly, Mike Bassett-esque Bruce types are becoming ineffective and irrelevant. Even Mourinho has been surpassed by the way the game has gone. 

Ipswich fans we're saying the same about Mick McCarthy last season. They then booed the new 'progressive' coach after ten games. 

Also, you can't compare the elite clubs to second tier teams. This is a league that Neil Warnocks Cardiff and David Wagners Huddersfield have gained promotion from. They're hardly the forward thinking progressive modern teams that you're referring too. 

[Stan]

Worked out alright for him!

Play-off finals after Villa were in 15th when Smith took over. At start of March, they were 8 points off play-off places. 

Really good end to the season and Smith seems to have properly reinvigorated Villa. Keeping Grealish as the key player and having a good backroom team seems to have helped him as well.

[Fairy In Boots]

On 15/05/2019 at 00:03, Stan said:

Worked out alright for him!

Play-off finals after Villa were in 15th when Smith took over. At start of March, they were 8 points off play-off places. 

Really good end to the season and Smith seems to have properly reinvigorated Villa. Keeping Grealish as the key player and having a good backroom team seems to have helped him as well.

Think if we don’t go up we’ll lose Grealish and Tammy but he will put together a young squad that will walk this league in a year or 2. 

[Danny]

1 hour ago, Fairy In Boots said:

Think if we don’t go up we’ll lose Grealish and Tammy but he will put together a young squad that will walk this league in a year or 2. 

You’ll probably sign Maupay