Board must take its share of the blame - General C Krulak

[Clampy]

I look at the players GH has brought in and i think, yeah this guy could work, he knows a good player when he sees one, and the football overall is better to watch.

Then i think back on the season, how he's got us worrying about relegation, losing 3 derbies in the same season, going to Liverpool and being 2-0 down inside 10 minutes against at the time a very very average team, and last but not least, the utterly pointless stupid idiotic team selection in the F.A Cup. For someone so experienced, he's made far too many mistakes. A change would do everyone good.

Was it you who said the other day about how infuriating it has been this season that pretty much every time we've looked like getting things "right", he / we have gone and put our big fucking size 11s right in it and made things more complicated than they needed to be? Because that's exactly what has happened.

To give one example, that Man City decision, regardless of whether we had a chance to beat them or not, was a very, very naive one indeed, thinking it wouldn't create ill will.

That was bad enough, but to then come out in the press the next day and say "even with our strongest team, we wouldn't have won anyway" made it 100 times worse. He might feel that way, but to come out and say it? He's supposed to be inspiring us.

Yes it was me Paulie, and you know what, i'm convinced that if he'd have picked a strong side that night up at Man City and kept the momentum going (we'd won 4-1 at home to Blackburn 3 days before) then i reckon we'd have been safe sooner. Yeah we might have lost the game on the night, but he misjudged it that badly, it just seemed to send the team and the club tumbling back down the hole we were half way of getting out of.

[Villa'Zawg]

Paulie i think there is a lot more to the Houllier appointment than we as fans see. I think the owner was determined to get someone in who as a number one priority would reduce the wage bill and at the same time start to bring the youth through. There are many managers i would prefer before Houller but none of them would come to Villa unless you paid them double what they could get elsewhere. Lerners options were very limited coming right at the start of the season, i think there is a book in this for Houllier, so much has happened.

I so hope that this is the thing that the general was referring to when he says the board must take its share of the blame and that they have a serious rethink.

[TheSandman]

I look at the players GH has brought in and i think, yeah this guy could work, he knows a good player when he sees one, and the football overall is better to watch.

Then i think back on the season, how he's got us worrying about relegation, losing 3 derbies in the same season, going to Liverpool and being 2-0 down inside 10 minutes against at the time a very very average team, and last but not least, the utterly pointless stupid idiotic team selection in the F.A Cup. For someone so experienced, he's made far too many mistakes. A change would do everyone good.

Was it you who said the other day about how infuriating it has been this season that pretty much every time we've looked like getting things "right", he / we have gone and put our big fucking size 11s right in it and made things more complicated than they needed to be? Because that's exactly what has happened.

To give one example, that Man City decision, regardless of whether we had a chance to beat them or not, was a very, very naive one indeed, thinking it wouldn't create ill will.

That was bad enough, but to then come out in the press the next day and say "even with our strongest team, we wouldn't have won anyway" made it 100 times worse. He might feel that way, but to come out and say it? He's supposed to be inspiring us.

Yes it was me Paulie, and you know what, i'm convinced that if he'd have picked a strong side that night up at Man City and kept the momentum going (we'd won 4-1 at home to Blackburn 3 days before) then i reckon we'd have been safe sooner. Yeah we might have lost the game on the night, but he misjudged it that badly, it just seemed to send the team and the club tumbling back down the hole we were half way of getting out of.

Agree with the points raised in these posts from clampy and pauliewalnuts.

The City decision is probably the one thing that I can't really look past with Houllier. I'm sure it probably did more bad than good to the team and its confidence.

[KevinGage]

I look at the players GH has brought in and i think, yeah this guy could work, he knows a good player when he sees one, and the football overall is better to watch.

Then i think back on the season, how he's got us worrying about relegation, losing 3 derbies in the same season, going to Liverpool and being 2-0 down inside 10 minutes against at the time a very very average team, and last but not least, the utterly pointless stupid idiotic team selection in the F.A Cup. For someone so experienced, he's made far too many mistakes. A change would do everyone good.

In a nutshell.

The decision in the cup will most likely have far bigger ramifications than simply handicapping our chances of progressing in the comp this year.

It sent out a message clear as day that Aston Villa are no longer interested in the business of competing for trophies.  The likes of Ash, Downing and pretty much anyone else at the club with ambition has the perfect excuse now to devise an exit strategy.

A new appointment might go some way to restoring confidence in that regard, but it could well be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Once a player becomes disenchanted, of feels he needs to move to further his career you're fighting a losing battle re trying to convince him to commit long term.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Not only that KG but his agent springs into action and with so much money involved, he'll do everything to convince the player to move.

[Steve67]

So, the board must take its share of the blame.  What exactly does this mean?  What action can they possibly take other than sacking the Manager?

[hawkeye]

I look at the players GH has brought in and i think, yeah this guy could work, he knows a good player when he sees one, and the football overall is better to watch.

Then i think back on the season, how he's got us worrying about relegation, losing 3 derbies in the same season, going to Liverpool and being 2-0 down inside 10 minutes against at the time a very very average team, and last but not least, the utterly pointless stupid idiotic team selection in the F.A Cup. For someone so experienced, he's made far too many mistakes. A change would do everyone good.

In a nutshell.

The decision in the cup will most likely have far bigger ramifications than simply handicapping our chances of progressing in the comp this year.

It sent out a message clear as day that Aston Villa are no longer interested in the business of competing for trophies.  The likes of Ash, Downing and pretty much anyone else at the club with ambition has the perfect excuse now to devise an exit strategy.

A new appointment might go some way to restoring confidence in that regard, but it could well be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Once a player becomes disenchanted, of feels he needs to move to further his career you're fighting a losing battle re trying to convince him to commit long term.

Exactly, that act of absoloute cowardice did so much damage to the moral of the club and i include the players. Think how you would feel having played well and put a team to the sword and an opportunity to play in an FA Cup match that is on TV to then be told that we are putting out the reserves tonight, i know how i would feel, so what is the point. It was a catalyst, he fucked up and you would have thought that after Anfield he might have worked it out, he didnt he has to go