The replacement for MON...?

[Hammer]

I think that based on end result against the outlay, GH's signing of Gary McAllister must be considered one of the past decade's best pieces of transfer business.

[mcgrath_85]

I can't say I'm overly enthused about this. However, we have to get behind Gerard and the team now. Hopefully we start well under him and we get some positivity back around the football club.

Ps. If I'd been offered a swap towards the end of last season between Houllier and O Neil then I would have taken it. I'm so glad he buggered off.

[sfx412]

Ps. If I'd been offered a swap towards the end of last season between Houllier and O Neil then I would have taken it. I'm so glad he buggered off.

That would be a good poll question

I would, at the end of last season have thought there were far better choices available, perhaps there are not any more.

[DANNYG]

At first I was gutted about this but then as I think more I do think he can do a job for us and I allways sort of liked him in interviews when he was at liverpool .

I think Randys chose him for his contacts and knowlege as much as his tactical skills.... will he bring phil eagle nose Thompson is as his right hand man tho please god no.....maybe we will get 1 or 2 exciting french prospects come january tho ....the new zidane or Henry will do nicely....Good luck gerard youll need it with us moaning fuckers haha you will be shot down quick enough

best of a bad bunch !

[The Man With A Stick]

Ps. If I'd been offered a swap towards the end of last season between Houllier and O Neil then I would have taken it. I'm so glad he buggered off.

That would be a good poll question

I would, at the end of last season have thought there were far better choices available, perhaps there are not any more.

Well if he'd done the decent thing and buggered off in May, we would have had a whole host of managers to choose from.  Sadly he waited until August, leaving us with very little to choose from.

I think Houllier is just about the best we can do given the alternatives.  I'd have preferred Jol but it was never going to happen after Ajax qualified for the CL.  I'm just relieved it isn't a British meat-and-potatoes type manager, like Curbishley, Brown or Jewell.  Hopefully we'll see a few things done differently over the next couple of years.

Welcome to the Villa and best of luck, Gerard!

[KevinGage]

Cheers Reina, good stuff to hear.

Not my first, second or fifth choice.  But decent pedigree, and I hope it works out for the best. If it's a short term deal initially with a view to extending that might be best for all concerned.

One thing I will say is I'd be happier to see GH picking the side than Kevin Mac playing a central midfield two of Ireland and Petrov.

[Matt Collins]

No=one wins the trophies he's won without having talent. But I am concerned about the style of football we're likely to see and his track record on transfers. Off the top of my head, I think his most expensive purchases would have been:

- Cisse (£14m?) - didn't work out
- Heskey (£11m?) - we know all about Emile's strengths and weaknesses!
- Diouf (£10m?) - good player, but never worked out
- Barmby (£8m?) - weak
- Biscan (£6m?) - terrible
- Hamann (£6m?) - very good
- Cheyrou (£5m) - awful
- Hyppia (£4m) - fantastic

The same list for MON at villa would look better than that imho - Milner, Downing, Young, Davies, Cuellar, NRC, Collins. A mixed, bag, but more in the way of successful attacking players, certainly. Houllier's attacking purchases don't seem to have come off (unless I'm missing someone)

And in terms of young players he brought over to revolutionise the set-up, there's only really Pongolle who has gone on to be a top flight player I think?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Totally uninspiring, a decent manager but nothing special, perhaps he now matches our aims, we've gone from a team spending £20m net to a team banking £20m in the space of a year,

Hang about.
We've had no manager in place to spend any money.

[frank]

If it is to be Houllier I can't get very enthusiastic about the appointment, but most of us felt the same way about Ron Saunders in 1974 and he turned out to be our most successful manager ever. Let's hope Randy's made the choice that's right for Villa at this time and get behind the manager and the team.

[spangley1812]

Totally uninspiring, a decent manager but nothing special, perhaps he now matches our aims, we've gone from a team spending £20m net to a team banking £20m in the space of a year,

Hang about.
We've had no manager in place to spend any money.

The question has to be why has it taken four weeks to get to this stage when none of the candidates are currently
employed by clubs   

[PhilGibson]

Totally uninspiring, a decent manager but nothing special, perhaps he now matches our aims, we've gone from a team spending £20m net to a team banking £20m in the space of a year,

Hang about.
We've had no manager in place to spend any money.

The question has to be why has it taken four weeks to get to this stage when none of the candidates are currently
employed by clubs   

How do we know that they did not try and get a manager currently employed and got turned down?

I am sure during the process they have looked at a number of options, but given the timing of O'Neill's departure then its probably been very difficult. They could have been in a position of hiring a manager who was doing the same as the reason they have got the hump with Martin and they would in essence be creating the same mess at another club, yes it is a dog eat dog world in football circles, but after being so badly burnt by Martin walking out with all of his staff in tow, I am sure they had reservations about a manager who was potentially prepared to do the same to another club.

I am firmly in the wait and see camp on this appointment. Lets get back to the football now and move on from managers and signings.

[Bosco81]

Wasn't the reason MON quit because he wasn't being given the Milner money to spend, is money suddenly going to be available now we've got Houllier in charge.

[Matt Collins]

I was just reminded on 5 live about his '5 plus 5' rule. ie - never more than 5 players in front of the ball. He was a bit of a 4-4-2 merchant as well wasn't he? I could imagine Petrov and NRC, with Ireland competing for one of the wide midfield berths, until he gets any of his own signings in.

[Monty]

I was just reminded on 5 live about his '5 plus 5' rule. ie - never more than 5 players in front of the ball. He was a bit of a 4-4-2 merchant as well wasn't he? I could imagine Petrov and NRC, with Ireland competing for one of the wide midfield berths, until he gets any of his own signings in.

Two things on that: firstly, his 5+5 rule was totally misinterpreted and is actually that you should always have 5 players ahead of the ball, a very attacking philosophy developed by Arrigo Sacchi at Milan; secondly, he played 4-4-2 when it was still viable in England, and even then it was more of a 4-2-3-1 with Heskey dropping deep and Owen running beyond. When he went to Lyon he played a more creative 4-2-3-1 which was nearly impossible in England when he was managing here owing to referee's standards of what a foul is. It's changed a little in favour of creative players these days, and I'd be very surprised to see anything but 4-2-3-1 until January at least.

[TheEgo]

Wasn't the reason MON quit because he wasn't being given the Milner money to spend, is money suddenly going to be available now we've got Houllier in charge.

I suspect there was no money for MON to spend, that doesn't mean there isn't money for a new manager. I believe (like us fans) Randy was sick of giving MON money to buy players and then stick them on the bench or out of position. Time will tell