Message From Houllier

[PaulTheVillan]

Link

To the fans who travelled to Liverpool and to all Villa supporters, let me assure you that we are working as hard as we possibly can to achieve the level of success which this great club aspires to. Everybody is hurting because of recent results and I am at Bodymoor Heath today with my staff, working on putting this right.

No one likes to lose 3-0 against any team and, if comments I made in the immediate aftermath of our defeat by Liverpool have been misconstrued - comments which were intended to be humorous, by the way - let me put them into context. The experiences I enjoyed with Liverpool some years ago will always stay with me, as will many experiences I have had in football both before and since, and I have taken all these experiences into my job as manager of Aston Villa. I understand the fans' feelings of hurt and disappointment at the moment - I am hurting as much as anybody, believe me - and I say emphatically that we will battle through. Building lasting success at Aston Villa is my focus and my commitment to this challenge is resolute.

It is down to us collectively as a club to work hard to bring joy and success to the fans because the fans are the most important. They are passionate, vocal and fantastic, which I stated when I first came here. They know we are in this together and their support will be vital on Saturday for our game against West Bromwich Albion.

[Dave]

Looks like someone has had a word...

[PaulWinch again]

Thank you Gerard, now let's move on and give him a chance to build his own team.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

What he classes as humorous is somewhat strange, none the less, we should perhaps put it behind us.
We need to get behind the team 100% for Saturday.

3 points is a must.

[usav]

He didn't have to and he did....hopefully people can drop it now.

[The Left Side]

Not bad but actions speak louder than words, the same goes for the players who when interview always grind out the same cliches about working harder, pulling socks up, etc. Do it on the park!!

[Walmley_Villa]

Fair enough - a few crunching tackles and few attacks on the Albion goal should get the crowd behind them - Come on Villa!

[eastie]

I think maybe he has been told to make that statement from above - at least they are taking notice of our feelings!

[dave.woodhall]

That's the closest to an apology I can ever remember from a Villa manager, and for that fair play to him.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I think, crowd wise, we'll show unity in the face of adversity.

I think the atmosphere and support will be good on Saturday.

[Toronto Villa]

Fair play to him. We need to move on and really get behind our team. They need us more than ever.

[alanclare]

Let's give this intelligent, experienced, caring man a chance to prove himself to us. Patience is the name of the game on our part plus the passion that we can bring with us on match days.

[Jimbo]

Clean slate, now let's crack on. But please, no more Liverpool talk.

[curiousorange]

If you're big enough to apologise for fucking up, that earns respect from me. Now let's do what he says and get it sorted.

[The Situation]

Yep, I hope Villains can just forget about what was said and just get behind the team for a much needed 3 points.