If You Want Ivic Out, Who Do You Want To Replace Him?

Very simple question. Ivic out seems a reasonably popular sentiment on here. I'm quite clear-eyed about his flaws and so far things obviously haven't really come together for us. But I'm not sure there's somebody better out there. So who (realistically) do those who are firmly in the Ivic Out camp want to have come in and replace him?

 

Zola

 

Mourinho

 

Steve Wigley

 

N.E. ****

 

Could we try Zola as attacking coach and Dyche as defensive coach?

 

This. Would take any random Italian journeyman over Ivic.

 

doubt they will be interested or whether we could afford them:
Patrick Viera
Van Bronchorst

Would cost us compensation and still might not be interested
Thomas Franks
Slavisa Jokanovic
Lee Bowyer
Darren Moore

Other available managers
Slaven Billic
Roberto Di Matteo
Zola
Roy Keane (just to watch him tear this team to shreds)

 

Vieira and Van Bronckhorst I’d happily have and part ways with Ivic for. But can’t see either interested. Same with Frank at Brentford. Jokanovi* probably the only one on your list who is both compelling to me and the plausible, but not sure how burnt he feels from last time and whether he would have any loyalty to his compatriot Ivic.

Bilic is ok. Same ppg last season as us at the moment with Ivic. Their form fell off a cliff after lockdown and they limped over the line.

Darren Moore is a decent coach. Probably mid-table champ level. Should we really ditch Ivic for a manager leading his team to 6th in League 1. Pretty similar analysis to Bowyer.

Roberto Di Matteo was awful at Villa, winning 1 of 12(?) games before being sacked in October 2016. Was poor at Schalke too.

Zola got only 78 points in his best season (again fewer ppg than Ivic) and couldn’t set up a defence for toffee. Has failed since. Just never quite hacked it at management.

Where has Roy Keane done well as a manager since being with Sunderland what, 10 years ago? Yes he’s good at being an angry pundit but little more.

 

Dave Bassett

 

Yep, and they would not be scared of Deeney's reputation. Love him or loathe him, Mazzarri saw that his time was up. And that was way back then!

 

Seeing as we only appoint managers that are out of work, had a quick gander at the current Serie B season and as one would expect, it's total carnage with coaches getting the chop left, right and centre including some bloke getting sacked twice from Brescia in four months (scroll down to the Managerial Changes section).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020–21_Serie_B

Picked a name at random because I thought I'd heard of him and can confirm that Massimo Oddo is suavely dressed, hunky and available. Was also sacked from Udinese after losing 11 games in a row a couple of years ago but when has something like that ever stopped our crackpot owners? He's my pick.

 

Chris Wilder?

 

Haha. Udinese’s past managers well represented among sacked managers in this season’s Serie A too, with Davide Nicola and Giuseppe Iachini being moved on from Genoa and Fiorentina.

A serious suggestion, though one who might be beyond our means, is Robert D’Aversa. Sacked by Parma in the close season, he had taken them to back to back promotions and then cemented their place in Serie A finishing 14th and then 11th. They then parted ways with him citing a loss of enthusiasm among the players. But that’s a strong record in my book.

 

I’d have him, if/when he becomes available. He’s v popular up there thought so wouldn’t be surprised if they stick with him, fancying him to take them back up. Obviously it’s gone v pear shaped v suddenly, but his record at Sheff Utd and also his previous jobs is seriously impressive. He’d definitely want more control over transfer than the Pozzos would like though.

 

Think it’s been reported that despite how it ended, there was no great falling out between Gino and Slav. They both respected and accepted the decision and moved on. I think the bigger issues would be 1. He’s on a cushy deal in the Middle East you’d think. Not sure how financially viable it would be to get him out of that. And it’s maybe likely his family are settled into a rather nice way of life there too. And 2. I think he would massively wary of joining us with the remit being to get into the PL. That’s what he achieved last time and he didn’t get to take us further - who could blame him for thinking that history will repeat itself.

I’d take him over Ivic in a heartbeat. But I just can’t see it.

Not sure Vieira has proved any great shakes as a manger either? Van Bronckhorst would be an extremely attractive proposition and he has worked at the City group before under Guardiola, as well as being successful with Feyenoord. Would be hard to prise him from China but with their incoming salary cap, he may well feel compelled to move on in the near future.

I’d be massively interested in Heinze as I say.

 

Rather oddly his favoured formation is 3-5-2 and part of their problem at the moment is a lack of actual goal scorers, injuries that make his 3-5-2 difficult to implement and a stubbornness to deviate from his favoured 3-5-2 formation.

 

Could be 45 mins away from Arteta being on the market.

0-1 at HT against Southampton.

 

Cheeky bid for Wenger or Sir Alex? I'd take either of them tbh.

 

BFS now officially out of the running.

 

That was the dynamic I was referring to. Not a falling out per se. But just not really an attractive proposition to do what was asked of you and then get ditched, is it?

Would you want him? Probably a top coach in there somewhere but results just haven’t been good enough have they? Vieira surely has done more as a manager if you want to go down the ‘vaunted player, highly regarded former City Football Group coach’ route

 

I wasn’t being serious about Arteta.

He will be a decent head coach at some point I think. But I also think he entered the fray too high up in the footballing echelons. Would have been better placed earning his stripes at a lesser PL club or overseas and then coming over to Arsenal/City or wherever. He didn’t even manage at U23 level.

I like the look of Scott Parker. I wonder if there’s someone similar knocking about doing good stuff at U23 level....Ljungberg?

 

I don’t pretend to fully understand Arteta, won the FA cup with excellent displays against both City and Chelsea.. but has been nothing short of abysmal this season.

 

Nigel Pearson

 

As bone idle as he can be, he shouldn’t have sidelined Ozil. He’s admitted himself that they need a CM creator. Doesn’t say much for his man-management skills that he feels he can’t motivate Ozil and would rather ignore him.

 

Slav or Rafa Benitez (very wishful)

 

They've spent years getting rid of the Pulis style and getting WBA back to their traditional football. Whatever keeps you in the division, I guess...

 

Yes, very very short memories. It’s sad how the premier league money can so easily corrupt.

 

Great name!
Massimo!
Been around the block,I remember him before Udinese I think, perhaps I dreamt it?

 

The problems we have will not be resolved with yet another manager change.

 

A shame he's literally just been taken off the market (genuinely).

 

Ahh annoying. Atlanta United seem to do decent stuff in MLS. Interesting that he’s taking over from interim manager...Stephen Glass.

 

Lol at the idea of any big names wanting to take us on as a project...I beat the drum for Slaven Bilic elsewhere on this forum, and while he's got the pedigree in English football, I don't think even he now that he's freshly out of a job is desperate enough to jump to us