Premier League season, 2021 / 2022

I believe that the process has been held with a close circle of people in the club all the talk has been media speculation. They made up that Lampard had been offered the job just because he had been interviewed.

 

This from SkySports
Rob Dorsett
@RobDorsettSky
#ncfc expected to offer Dean Smith the manager’s job in the next few days. Negotiations have been ongoing for several days and Smith’s reps are now in advanced talks over the details of his contract. Smith ready to fly back from New York and sign if agreement is reached.
8:33 PM · Nov 12, 2021

 

Like Suffolk, I think the media, TalkSport in particular, hyped up the 'Lampard offered the job' story and then had to run with it. The exception was SkySports who countered this with the story of how much Smith had impressed with his detailed knowledge of the club and the players. I doubt Lampard had anything like that except bits he might have remembered from his time at Derby. It's looking more and more that he pulled out because he wasn't going to be offered the job and he didn't want to lose face. The media would have been devastated if he seen to fail against the 'unfashionable' Smith. Now they can claim the job wasn't big enough for Frank.

Smith's Managerial Career on Wiki makes a good read:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Smith_(footballer,_born_1971)

 

doh... yeah haha

 

I may be a bit cynical but Harry Renapp Frank's Godfather is a dodgy geezer that does online betting adverts.

There was lots of bets put on Lampard to get the job .

 

Cynicism is a good quality, it's usually born of experience!

 

If you have inside information or can influence the decision of the candidate and put out loads of fake news naming Frank as the favourite the bookies clean up .

Skybet were promoting stories claiming Frank was the favourite.

 

The BBC seems convinced - always a good sign:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59272851

The reaction of Villa fans is also encouraging:

Clairee Robbins: Lucky them will always have the most upmost respect for deano n I wish him well he brought the love bk to villa good luck deano

James Hinton: Still gutted he’s gone, his tenure was the best and the most connected I’ve felt to the club for many years

Richard Lawes: Good luck to him I say. Always a villain.

 

Happy with Smith. Unhappy with the sacking.

 

Spent £150 million when he got Villa promoted, and only just kept them up. I'm not convinced, but hopefully I will be wrong.

 

He got them comfortable mid table!

 

Last season yeah, but he still had his best player Grealish. But the season before that, just hanged in there. But, we will see, I guess.

The one good thing is, he will have experience for a relegation battle.

 

Maybe he’ll achieve that with Normann? Or Cantwell welcomed back and becomes our creator in chief - rumour was Smith’s Villa were chasing him. Or Tzolis.

 

Yeah, I read that, but someone else said it was Rashica. But then I see how underperformed Emi has been, so I'm not sure if they will perform any better. Time will tell.

 

It was Rashica - Villa were after him when the price was £20m, but they couldn't get it done. There was a time when they were said to be after Cantwell, but that never materialised either.

If Smith does come in, it'll be very interesting how he sees the squad and potential lineups. I tend to think Normann will be a key player in our survival battle, but Cantwell getting back to his best would help as well.

 

Yep - I think the advantage of Cantwell (presumably) returning to the fold is he will draw the opposition and create space. He also adds just an ounce of ****er factor to us. That’s quite important, gives us a bit of bite in a different way.

 

An ounce would be his bleached bubble perm and Allice band .

His constant play acting diving feining injury and arguing with the officials is probably hard to stomach for opposition players .

There's a good player in there but he definitely has the **** factor.

 

Could we have fewer asterisks please because I don't know what you're on about.

 

Haha! Mine starts with a W and includes A, N and K

 

Thanks Rob. I'll see if I can work it out from there.