The replacement for MON...?

[smudger]

Houllier maybe as Director Of Football..

They don't work.

[Reality]

They do in some cases, and can work. The problem with Houllier is that he doesn't have a record at all of signing good players. Look at his record with Liverpool. He signed some absolute dirt.

But what are our options? Unless Lerner is hoodwinking us, and then bringing in a top manager, but I doubt that very much.

[Dante Lavelli]

Dante if you are right that houllier would buy a whole load of foreign players then rejoice , he truly is the saviour!

A man who buys foreign players - have I not missed that ,bring it on.

If you look at the players he signed at liverpool then I would not be too over the moon.  However he has been instrumental within the French academy system - one which has worked for a number of years.

Basically I hope he is being appointed more for his ability to build villa a decent, well even better academy and sort the scouting rather than his actual transfer purchases. 

It will take longer but, in my opinion, having a world class youth/scouting set-up is a much more viable way to get to the top than simply buy our way there as we simply don't have the funds of city/chelsea/man u etc. 

[eastie]

Emile heskey apparently scored 23 goals in a season under houllier - that makes him a miracle worker in many ways- houllier paid £11m for heskey , that makes him a fool in many ways!

[TheSandman]

Emile heskey apparently scored 23 goals in a season under houllier - that makes him a miracle worker in many ways- houllier paid £11m for heskey , that makes him a fool in many ways!

Not really as Heskey scored 23 goals in one season for him ;-)

[Reality]

Which was when Heskey was actually decent at playing the striker role. He won't score under Mourinho if he came in.

[richard moore]

I understand a decision has been made and will be announced tomorrow

Do you understand who it will be?

Even if he did understand, you would understand if he didn't say.

It would be understandable

I understand that it is understandable for the need to be cautious and therefore making the understandable decision to not say a name.  Perfectly understandable in my view.

I don't understand that. Run it by me again please...

[eastie]

I imagine heskeys looking forward to houllier having been bought by him whereas Carew having been sold by him won't be quite so chirpy.

[Dazvillain]

If its Gerrard Houllier, happy birthday for today  Sir.
If its someone else hurry up and start work at VP !

[PaulWinch again]

The General's comment that the potential manager would do due diligence and check fans sites is interesting.

Reading between the lines it would suggest that we have discussed one of the potential targets on here.  Not surprising really as we have discussed everyone here from Hiddink to Holloway, however it is interesting that it would cause comment from the General. 

Lets face it all of the managers would have been unpopular at some point in their jobs so would be used to it.  The one exception being K-Mac...  Therefore my conspiracy theory is that the Board wanted K-Mac but he has been put off by the vitriol he has read here and elsewhere.   ...and if that's the case then he definitely is the wrong man.

I don't think there has been much vitriol for KMac. In my case I don't want him to be the manager, but I have a lot of respect for him and want him to remain in a coaching capacity.

[garyfouroaks]

I am "Houllier neutral". The only two serious contenders are Sven and Houllier when availability, experience and track record are taken into consideration.

Is Houllier the fans choice? No. Is there someone obviously better? No.

With the window closed the first thing that houllier would have to do is coach, which is no bad thing.I see no reason why the English policy at the club will not be continued with selected foreign recruits added to the mix.

[KevinGage]

Exactly the point.

Had he left at the start of the summer, the list would have looked a bit different. Leaving when he did limited our options.

I'd say the apparent reluctance to "poach" somebody else's manager has been more of a limiting factor.  I have to say that without actually knowing who the boss will be yet, I'm very disappointed with the list of names so far.  I'm trying to talk myself into being excited by a Houllier/MacDonald partnership, but in truth it's really not what I expected to see 5 years in now that O'Neill has left.  All the jobless managers linked so far are out of work for a reason, and it just smacks of there not being any money left for either a decent manager or new players.

Where has this bit about not wanting to poach other managers come from? I know the General talked about it from his OWN perspective as a fan, but has the CLUB said anything about this? Who would you like to see from another club? Moyes is out as are some of the other currently employed favorites being bandied about. They have been asked and have no interest in leaving their clubs in a similar situation to how we have been left by MON. So who else? Someone like Holloway? That might be the type who might consider leaving their clubs to come to Villa. Is that the caliber you have in mind? Not having a go; just asking the question...

I think we're definitely missing a trick if we're limiting the scope to those with Prem experience.

How much Prem experience did Wenger have before rocking up at Arsenal? How much Prem experience did Fergie have in English top flight football pre 1986? You could also point to extreme examples like Mourinho and Ancelotti, but in fairness they were elite managers at the time Chelsea appointed them (the money on offer probably helped). Wenger and Fergie weren't.

There are the obvious names circulating like Klinsmann, Hitzfeld and co. Donadoni has also put his name forward if reports are to be believed.

Slightly out of leftfield but I'd also look at the likes of Michael Laudrup and Huub Stevens. Both have a track record of achieving more with less. Laudrup by getting Brondby to the CL and Getafe to a Spanish cup final+ latter stages of the UEFA.  Stevens has managed to a decent standard in Holland and Germany with the likes of PSV, Hamburg, Cologne and Schalke, winning two cup finals and the UEFA Cup at the latter.

Either way, it's hard to shake the notion that names like Curbishley and Houllier are  damaged goods/ yesterdays men and for that reason are seriously underwhelming choices.

[Clampy]

My first thought on Houiller (if is is going to be him) i'm not sure about it to be honest. The Statement mentioned that the club wanted someone who knows the Premiership. Houiller does, well he did, he's not managed in it for a long time. His signing's at Liverpool were not great. Yes he won trophies, but it was 9 years ago.

Personally i think we can do better.

[The Situation]

with selected foreign recruits added to the mix.

Flamini... 

[paul_e]

If it turns out to be Houllier I'm not going to be over the moon but I'm not upset.

What would be nice though is if as part of his role he gets an assistant with the intention of them taking the reins later on.  That'd mean next time we'd have all the benefits of a kmac appointment (known and liked by the players, etc) but with that bit of steel to make it at the top end of management.

We really should be looking at building the club on a conveyer belt of quality from the youth and reserves where our setup seems to be as good as anyone in the country, the belief being we're never going to buy a xavi, so lets make our own instead, continuity throughout the club is the key to doing that, and to be fair to him it's the thing that Houllier really has in his favour.  The only side he's been at where kids haven't been a regular part of things was at Liverpool where the entire structure was demanding now at all costs.