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Sky Sports News: Villa need Experienced Manager
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Dean Smith has come and gone from Villa in the past couple of weeks and here on Sky Sports we ask,
Just who can come in and take over from Villa and take them back to the next level.
There are several potential candidates and some crazy candidates too. There will be ofcourse the likes of Sam Allerdyce, Martin Jol and Slaven Bilic.
Lets go through these candidates and two more at the end.
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Bilic is a recently sacked manager. West Ham got rid of him only a couple of seasons after a superb 7th-place finish. The Hammers have never finished higher in the Premier League.
in 2015/16, Bilic became only the 4th manager to record away wins over Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City in the same season. His team was very exciting to watch as they almost finished as the league's highest scorers after finding the net 65 times.
During his six years in charge, Croatia was also a wonderful team to watch and with a bit of more talent, could've easily achieved some success at one of the major tournaments. For example, only a penalty shootout loss to Turkey knocked them out of the EURO 2008 semis.
Bilic won nearly 65% of matches in 2006-2012 with Croatia. He then had a disappointing spell at Lokomotiv Moscow, but bounced back at Besiktas with three consecutive 3rd-place finishes.
The 49-year-old has picked up some great experience from many different leagues and will be an asset for any side ready to give him a chance.
He hasn't yet won anything as a manager, so the desire and will to win should still be there. And what's maybe even more important, is that he'll be eager to prove his doubters wrong after his time at West Ham was brought to a cruel end.
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Jol has been unemployed for a while but could move to Villa
Martin Jol has been unemployed since August 2016, after leaving Egyptian club Al-Ahly following their 38th league title. Notably, they had missed out on it the previous year.
As a manager, Jol has also won the Dutch Cup twice. He has a total of 688 games to his name as manager, and he's worked in many different countries. His adaptability looks unquestionable and this means that he could do a good job in any league.
Jol is probably best known for his time in England with Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham, but his most successful spells have been with Ajax, in his home country, and with Hamburg in Germany.
Usually a powerhouse in the Netherlands, Ajax was without a single trophy for a number of years before Jol brought them cup success in 2010. To this day, it's the last local cup win for the famous Amsterdam side.
Under him, Ajax also had a wonderful run in the league, but bizarrely missed out on the title, which went to FC Twente. That with a 1-point edge over Ajax, who won all of their last 14 matches.
Jol's team had the best defensive and offensive record in the league. They scored a whopping 106 goals in 34 matches. Their goal difference +86 has two times better than PSV's, who had the second-best goal difference.
Jol also lead Ajax back to the UEFA Champions League group stages for the first time since 2005/06.
His spell in charge of the club didn't last long, though. He resigned in December 2010, a few months after Fulham unsuccessfully tried to hire him as their new manager. To nobody's surprise, he finally made his move to Craven Cottage for the 2011/12 season.
Jol led Fulham to a 9th and 12th place finishes in the Premier League before leaving. His time at the club included wins over the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool, and also draws against Manchester City and Chelsea.
On the way to their first ever Premier League title win, City conceded over one goal in a game, just five times. One of these occasions was at the Craven Cottage in a 2-2 draw.
The Dutchman's spell in the Premier League also includes two 5th-place finishes with Tottenham during his only two full seasons in charge of the Spurs. With his know-how of the league, he looks like a very good candidate for Premier League sides on the prowl for a new manager.
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Could Allerdyce be moving to Villa?
Sam Allerdyce however despite previously announcing his retirement from his managerial career, on 30 November 2017, Allardyce signed a contract to manage Everton until June 2019, who were thirteenth place in the Premier League table, following a poor start to the 2017–18 season. His first game in charge came two days later, when his side defeated Huddersfield Town in a 2–0 victory. He guided the "Toffees" to a seven-game unbeaten run at the start of his tenure, a spell which included five clean sheets. Having steadied the defence, he stated that his next task was to bring in a consistent goalscorer. Everton ended the season in eighth-position, but fans were dissatisfied with the style of play. Whilst under Allardyce's management, Everton were ranked 20th for total shots, 19th for total shots on target, 16th for passing accuracy and 17th for shots faced in the Premier League. Allardyce left the club on 16 May 2018.
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Bento is looking for a new job
Paulo Bento has a mixed reputation as he's been forced to leave a couple of jobs after a string of bad results, but he would be an interesting choice for any midlevel club.
The 48-year-old is currently without a job, after getting sacked by Olympiacos last March. Mind you, it happened in bizarre circumstances, as the team was holding the top spot in Greece with a nearly 10-point edge over the rest of the back and had qualified for the Round of 16 in the UEFA Europa League.
Bento is probably best known for his work at Sporting Lisbon. He brought the team two Portuguese Cups and two Super Cups, also leading them to the League Cup final a couple of times. In terms of trophies won, the former defensive midfielder is the second most successful manager in club history.
After his good job at Sporting, Bento was appointed Portugal manager after Carlos Queiroz was sacked following a poor start to the EURO 2012 qualifiers. The team won eight of the first 10 games played under Bento, including a 4-0 hammering of the then world champions, Spain.
He got the nation to the Euros via playoffs, and the team had a very successful run there, only stopped by Spain in the semi-finals in a penalty shootout.
Bento's reign with Portugal ended after a poor start to the 2016 EURO qualifiers. After that, he had a brief spell with Cruzeiro in Brazil before taking over at Olympiacos.
Bento has won 59.33% of matches as manager. Over 327 matches, his team has scored 154 more goals than the opponents. He looks like a solid appointment, although there could be some difficulties coming up after the honeymoon period is over.
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Blanc led Bordeaux to the title
You could say Laurent Blanc has been very lucky in his managerial career, getting the chance to manage top teams like France and PSG. However, his spell with Bordeaux tends to be forgotten.
Blanc led Bordeaux to a 2nd-place finish in his debut season and a league title a year later in 2009. During the season, his team posted a new league record with 11 consecutive wins.
In 2009/10, Blanc's Bordeaux was drawn in the same Champions League group as Bayern and Juventus. They surprisingly ended up with an unbeaten record, just two points off the maximum 18. The European season ended with a quarter-finals loss to Lyon.
At PSG, Blanc, of course, won basically everything there is to win domestically with three league titles, two cups and also three league cups in three years. He was let go because the team failed to get over the hump in Europe.
PSG crashed out at the quarter-finals stage in each of Blanc's seasons in charge. However, they didn't even make it that far last season, after he left, so maybe they actually shouldn't have gotten rid of him.
Blanc reportedly received a compensation of €22 million following his dismissal, which I guess currently allows him to enjoy all the best life has to offer, but he should be back on the saddle, sooner, rather than later, and it will be fascinating to see if he can replicate the success he's enjoyed so far.
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At the end of the 2017/18 season, Arsene Wenger drew curtains on his 22 years long spell as manager of Arsenal.
Wenger’s legacy at Arsenal, in the Premier League and even in the history of the game is unparalleled. He managed Arsenal in 1235 games and his 707 wins gave him a win percentage of 57.2.
The 68-year-old won 17 titles in his 22 years at Arsenal. He won three league titles, a record seven FA Cups and seven Community Shields as Arsenal manager but the UEFA Champions League eluded him.
In the history of the FA Cup, only four teams have won more trophies than Arsene. However, his biggest achievement at Arsenal was winning the Premier League unbeaten in 2003/04. His team from 03/04 were nicknamed ‘the invincibles’ and they are often talked about but has never been replicated.
Wenger also oversaw the construction of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and during a period of severe financial crunch, he managed to secure a minimum of Champions League qualification for 20 successive seasons.
He’s taking a deserved break from management but he’s not out of the game yet. If a proposal that interests him comes up, then he will be raring to get back on the touchline.
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