Bright Future with M. Houllier

[peter w]

Excellent stuff from Mr Houllier.
Up and at 'em!

Am I the only one who read that in the voice of Radioactive man?

[pablopicasso_10]

interesting interview, and i cant really disagree with any of it...

lots of things have needed to change at the villa for a while now, and he seems to understand what needs changing...

[placeforparks]

Excellent stuff from Mr Houllier.
Up and at 'em!

Am I the only one who read that in the voice of Radioactive man?

jiminy jillikers!

[VillaAlways]

Houllier revealed he has yet to sign his contract at Villa..

Wait until Queen of the Drama Queens, Paulie Walnuts reads that.

SSN has just repotred this as breaking news that he hasn't signed a contract


** sighs*

Not runninng across the bottom at least but had breaking news in corner when it was reported

[JJ-AV]

Really like the quotes. Welcome Gerard!

[sfx412]

He's starting from a better position than Everton, by some way I wonder what the Guardian think of their chances of the top 4.
As expected, he says all the right things and coherently, I can't wait to see how quickly he changes things on the pitch and how.
As with his predecessor, in fact all new managers it will take time for his methods to work their way through, especially the change to a more Foreign approach to coaching, that made me smile.
But the hope for good has returned, I just wish he'd had more time in a pre season to get to grips with the squad, especially as its been a relatively easy start fixture wise up until now
Good luck, Ged, 3 years to work it out, here's dreaming, we won't be as poor as so many pundits and newspaper experts expect.

[southern ian]

A good statement by Houllier, lets hope it's not just empty rhetoric, all villa fans have said for a while we need to be ruthless and close out games, let's prove it tonight against the cloggers of Blackburn

[Irish villain]

Very promising interview from GH. You get the sense that we are about to modernise as a club and have a manager now who knows how to win. We have been a hard team to beat over the past four seasons and I see that continuing. However, what could be worth a few crucial extra points is that we now have a fresh approach to squad rotation, tactics and training under a manager who has won domestic and European cups.

 Proud history, Bright future

[damon loves JT]

I am just glad we have somebody in charge. Another couple of weeks and I would have settled for Christopher Biggins

[garyfouroaks]

There was no outstanding choice- alongside Sven he was a contender as least worst choice.

I am Houllier neutral, neither wildly for, or against, but think that the Gary Mac appointment is a shrewd one. MONs three successive sixth placed finishes was the best of any Villa post WW2 manager. Nothing has happend which is going to improve Houlliers chances of improving on that.

I remember when Gregory was appointed and feeling gutted, but for a time it worked. Just maybe Houllier can have a similar short term impact. I was and am a MON fan. But I am also deeply suspicious of the belief that managers need to be around forever. MON did do a good job and it was unlikely to get better without mega finance which Randy, understandably, is loathe to provide.My disappointment is that MON didnt shake hands at the end of last season with his head held high.

Unlike some others I think that our "buy British" policy was a good one, and worked, it gave the club an identity. His struggle was with buying foreign, Beye, Petrov, Salifou etc.

[Monty]

Changing the training regime, returning Ash to the wing (hopefully not in a 4-4-2, please God!), talking about a winning mentality - all good signs.

[Clampy]

Today is the first day of a new era at VP. Although it is unrealistic to expect us to stop talking about the previous manager as there are still too many unanswered questions it is time to stop using his departure as an excuse. Time to start looking forward, not backwards.

It is Gerard's team now. I am really excited about what he and his staff can bring to the club, the article in The Guardian today (link below) where he talks about us being too nice and creating a winning mentality is excatly what I wanted to hear.

Gerard speaks

Well said Chris and my thoughts entirely. Time to look forward and move on.

[Toronto Villa]

I watched the whole press conference yesterday and to be honest  between that and the initial one, I'm yet to hear him say anything that I didn't like. He has a very unassuming, calm style, but you know there's a hammer behind it. He's called for patience while he gets things established down there, and he'll certainly need at least 2 transfer windows to get the players in that will make significant differences. I think we ow him that. I'm very optimistic about the next few years.

[Brend'Watkins]

It may be coincidence but Downing's form of the last few games has shown a marked improvement. 

I think the comfort zone is out of bounds for the foreseeable future.

[London Villan]

It's not that he is starting from a terrible base with a bunch on useless players though. Two decent, first team, signings would have a significant impact on the team and the overall performances.

Midfielder and striker... £10m-£15m a go... get scouting Mr H.