Argument between Downing & Gary Mac Yesterday

[Dave Cooper please]

So we have two pages about an alleged argument that one poster saw and no one else did?

[Dave Cooper please]

Sorry, three pages!

[Phil from the upper holte]

What's happened with the so called story of the dressing room bust up that was going to come out yesterday?

It did with Bobby.

Got a link?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1345294/Robert-Pires-slams-Villa-boss-Gerard-Houllier-predicts-relegation.html

He doesn't make it sound too great.

Cheers, I can't believe he started after that!

[rutski]

what a load of arse, dorset! I wish i could be bothered to write anything else but i cannot be arsed! Shit Stirrers! Ludicrous

[ROBBO]

From what i've read it was a cock up by the fourth official and AY was meant to be subbed before the sending off, I would put a total ban on any Villa player talking to the press or expressing opinions detrimental to the club or face a massive fine.

[Nigel Macdougall]

I'll reserve judgement until I hear the opinion of our Isle of Man observant ?

[Simba]

Isle of Man? Gets worse. In South Africa we had live feed. For some reason it carried on a bit after the end of the game , no commentary.  As the players walked off the pitch the look and verbal between Petrov and GH was, er not polite. Stan scored a cracker but absolutely nothing from GH. Well nothing positive.

Maybe you guys saw it but to me it smacked of "... that good enough for you French piece of shit..."
GH _ "Non" actuallement".

It was GH that lowered his head and eyes......

[Macho Man Randy Savage]

I wouldn't read that much into touchline arguments, but I am concerned by the number of comments our players are making to the press. It's making our club look like a shambles, and I don't remember stories like this coming out so much before, not even during dark days under DOL.

[Dave Cooper please]

I wouldn't read that much into touchline arguments, but I am concerned by the number of comments our players are making to the press. It's making our club look like a shambles, and I don't remember stories like this coming out so much before, not even during dark days under DOL.

How many of these "comments to the press" are actually comments to the press? And how many are just make up stories by journalists latching onto another "football club in crisis" line?

[Risso]

The recent spate of Pires stories all seem to be rehashes of his radio interview, with all of the papers adding their own take to it.

[Villa'Zawg]

I thought David James' view in the Observer was interesting. Only a couple of sentences are about Gerard directly.

Managers will be forgiven anything if they get results = Clicky 

"...Good results and likability do not necessarily go together, though. A prime example is Gérard Houllier. I have a lot of time for him because he taught me a valuable lesson about player respect at Liverpool. But he was not a popular manager, despite his trophies. I remember being at Aston Villa and speaking to some of my old Liverpool team-mates who were complaining about him. I said: "But you're third in the league, what's there to moan about?" They just didn't like the way he did things.

Did it matter? No, because in the early days he brought success. And that's what players desire more than anything else. You can forgive a manager anything if he helps you to win. Once the winning stops there comes a period of grace – living off the memories of having won – but if the players don't like you the mood quickly turns sour.

Losing the confidence of the dressing room is not as rare as it seems. We only tend to hear about it when there are heavy defeats, but I've played for managers whom the team has disliked and we've been floating along mid-table. Mediocrity is itself a reason to dislike a manager. Players are ambitious and want to win, not settle for safety.

Once the talk starts that a manager is going to get the sack, it's pretty much a done deal. The dressing room is already thinking about who will be next in charge. The more the manager protests on TV that he has the confidence of his players, the more the players are pulling their hair out behind the scenes.

As the pressure builds, the unrest gains momentum and is difficult for a manager to contain. It is at this point that they often start to make crazy decisions. One manager I had brought in a rule that English was the only language allowed in the dressing room. That alienated the foreign players who then refused to speak English and suddenly there was a rift. Another manager who rounded us all up after a heavy thrashing told us: "When you go home your kids are going to look at you and say: 'Daddy was a mummy today.'" It was the strangest thing we'd ever heard, and it only reinforced our suspicion that he had completely lost it.

Other common mistakes by managers are not being honest, a surefire way of losing your players' trust, or playing teacher and punishing individuals by forcing them to train with the youth players. Never a good idea. It's not that a manager has to please his players all the time, but he has to be honest and show basic respect.

As England manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson dropped me three times yet I still have a very high opinion of him. He took the time to explain his decisions, and gave me advance notice. Everyone hates a manager who drops players without any warning or explanation.

People often ask if players try to get rid of a manager on purpose. Some do, particularly those who are out of favour or on the fringes of the team. They are hoping someone new will come in and rejuvenate their career. To most of us, though, winning is the most important thing, no matter your feelings about the manager. Where that principle comes into conflict is when you are given a set of orders to follow and you know that they are completely inept. Do you disobey your chain of command, or follow orders that lead to disaster?..."

[hawkeye]

i have some bust ups with managers and team mates during a game, its what happens, peope were complaining that the bench have been to quiet, i hope some one is giving Downing a rocket because his recent performances are reniniscent of last season

[JUAN PABLO]

Im sure players didnt like MON. Not every player is going to like the boss, just like being at work... 

[Macho Man Randy Savage]

I wouldn't read that much into touchline arguments, but I am concerned by the number of comments our players are making to the press. It's making our club look like a shambles, and I don't remember stories like this coming out so much before, not even during dark days under DOL.

How many of these "comments to the press" are actually comments to the press? And how many are just make up stories by journalists latching onto another "football club in crisis" line?

Well I've not had regular internet access just recently so I've not been able to follow every news item about us, but even then in the past week I've seen these quotes from Pires reported in here as well as Petrov talking about Houllier and Carew needing to patch up their differences. Surely if we are a club under scrutiny from a press looking for turmoil then we don't need to be giving them these sound bites?

[Dave Cooper please]

"We" (as in the club) are not giving them anything, the tabloids are scenting a crisis and making it all up.

Pires: "I would like to have played more, but there you go."

Tabloid: "Pires slams Houllier's team selection."