Villa fans campaign for new dynamism at the top

As Aston Villa embark on the search for their 10th manager in 21 years, the place is abuzz with names of possible candidates for what used to be one of football's top jobs, with the fans weighing in. From far-off Sydney, Steve Lang informed the club website: "I have heard Villa are in talks with Louis van Gaal and Gianluca Vialli," while Jeff T reports having seen Bryan Robson in Birmingham, "and he reckons he is favourite". Sarah Cort notes: "My sister's boyfriend is in the Villa youth team and he reckons George Burley will definitely get it."

But Mark Sadler confides: "Dion Dublin and Steve Staunton are going to team up as joint bosses." All those in serious pursuit of employment will need to note, though, that the search does not possess undue urgency. Villa's board have said they will assess all the applications and make up their minds sometime next month.

The usual suspects are jostling in the starting blocks, with the former Leeds man David O'Leary leading in the betting, perhaps simply because he would be available immediately. Another youngish, and unemployed, manager who has declared interest, as Ms Cort's contacts have spotted, is Burley, who took Ipswich into the top flight and has just helped to keep Derby in the First Division. However, Burley pointed out: "I won't be applying as such. Clubs tend to approach people, that's the normal thing."

Clearly, nobody has informed Villa of this trend. Which will come as no surprise to the swelling band of supporters and former players who feel the ones who should be going are the 79-year-old chairman, Doug Ellis, aka Deadly Doug, and his associates.

Ellis, Villa's biggest shareholder by far with 34 per cent, has reiterated the oft-expressed comment that he would not be quitting the club he loves. "The only way I will be leaving Villa Park is when they carry me out feet first," he said.

The campaign to unseat Ellis, who has prostate cancer, has been shouldered by Dennis Mortimer, captain of the Villa team who won the championship in 1981 and the European Cup the following season. "We are all banding together in a concerted bid to see Ellis removed from office," he said on Friday. "It won't be easy or quick, but it has to be done. Our campaign will be ruthless, remorseless and relentless."

It would not be before time, in the opinion of one season-ticket holder who has shares in the club and who declined to be named. "There is a poisonous atmosphere at Villa Park nowadays," he said. "We have just finished lower in the League than Birmingham and been beaten by them in both local derbies, an absolute disaster. We are an irrelevance in the Premiership."

The on-field successes under Mortimer came in the years between Ellis's two spells as chairman, and the former captain was nettled that Ellis refused to put up pictures of his sides who won the League and the European Cup. He insists: "It genuinely is time for something a little more dynamic upstairs at the club. He [Ellis] should give someone else the opportunity to take the club forward, because that's what the fans want." The Supporters' Trust, urging a uniting of the opposition before Ellis comes up for re-election at this year's AGM, say: "It is time we took back the club from our backward- thinking board, a group of men who class their 'success' not because we win trophies, not because we qualify for Europe, but because we're not in receivership."

Mortimer, who claims he has "never once" been offered a guest ticket to watch a home game and who remains highly popular at Villa Park, pledged: "I will do everything in my power to have every last trace of Doug Ellis removed from Villa Park. If it takes a week, a month or a year or two, we'll get him out. I know plenty of people who would put good money into Villa, but they won't touch us with a bargepole while he clings on."

In the more immediate matter of a new manager, O'Leary is 9-2 favourite, with Mickey Adams and David Platt at 10-1, Burley 12-1 and Bryan Robson 14-1. Also available are Phil Tufnell, Prince William and Jasper Carrott, all at 1,000-1, though the real outsider at 5,000-1 is Robbie Savage.