Time for priorities and players of the season

When players start talking about wanting to know what is going on, something that we've discussed here a few times, then chances are we will find out soon enough, more so if the players are in the dark.

Where has this come from? Well, you've probably read the comments from Luke Young, but if you haven't they are below and this I suspect, is going to have wound someone at the club up.

Luke Young
It is going to be another summer of no-one knowing what's really going on for a while. I would hope the manager, first and foremost, is healthy and he comes through the trouble he has been having with his heart.

But I think also we need to know what we are doing, who is going to be taking the club forward, who is going to be making the decision on which players stay and go and who is going to be in charge for next season. Hopefully Gerard is fine and he can carry on but at the minute, let's be honest, no-one really knows what is going on.

It would have wound someone up, I suspect, because the club are now going to start to get more detailed and specific questions about what is going on. The player has also highlighted a few points that, while obvious to us and the people that matter, they are now in black and white and for all to see.

  • The club can not move forward without a manager
  • The quicker a decision is made, the better, for so many reasons

Manager speculation

For the record, I don't have any preferred choice for manager. I think David Moyes could probably do a job and I think maybe Paul Lambert could too. I think Gerard Houllier was a very good choice for the short-term and had he not had his problems next season would have been a lot better.

But I'm just throwing names about now, because these are two names thrown about by a few the last few weeks and there is another new one now.

Atletico Madrid manager Quique Sanchez Flores could be heading the Premier League according to reports in Spain and someone put two and two together and ended up with Aston Villa as the team he could be heading too.

I don't know much about him and I've asked a few people but there was nothing overly outstanding about him and according to Wikipedia (I take what I read on Wikipedia with a pinch of salt) his win record at Atletico Madrid is 42.11% - exactly the same as our previous manager with us. Not sure that is a good omen.

Other names mentioned recently include Rafa Benetiz and Martin Jol - I mention those just to give my opinion that neither will be the next manager but a part of me does seem to think that Jol, with a Director of Football, would be a safe choice.

I'm not sure I want a safe choice and I don't think the club will go that route, after all, they've had a while now to draw up a short list and I suspect that the top two or three names on that list will be managers that have not managed in England before, but that is just me guessing.

My point - this desperately needs to be sorted out very soon. Every single day we don't have a new manager is a day wasted. This really should be the priority, over everything else that is going on or not at the moment.

Aston Villa Awards Dinner

Yes, this happened last night and you probably know the winners but again, if you didn't, they are listed below.

  • Player of the season - Stewart Downing
  • Players' player of the season - Stewart Downing
  • Supporters' player of the season - Stewart Downing
  • Players' young player of the season - Marc Albrighton and Ciaran Clark
  • Supporters' young player of the season - Marc Albrighton
  • Terrace Trophy - Marc Albrighton
  • Goal of the season - Marc Albrighton v Fulham

I think that is all the awards - I've copied from Twitter and used memory, so forgive me if I'm wrong. Basically, very nice to see both those get recognised and to see Ciaran Clark get a mention too.