Houllier's presence

[Chris Smith]

Houlliers no Messiah that's for sure. He's not the man O'Neill is, and as yet has done little to show he's going to be any better in the long run.
However, he's switched on to football, modern day football, has already changed dramatically the football regime at Villa. He's also articulate when interviewed as he doesn't need to be ultra cautious with every word he sprouts.
He's brought in a group of talented and mostly young coaches, full of new ideas, has used more players in the few matches he's had than O'Neill did in a full season, and is gaining the respect if not adulation of fans.
I'm sure those who idolised O'Neill, will expect far more than he can offer with the squad left behind and as views expressed above show, the blindness caused by the O'Neill aura has not worn off for some, poor sods.
Houllier is not the sort of manager to sprout how good he is, he has no ego to build, he doesn't need that sort of weak adulation, or continual justification, he just does it to the best of his ability, without too much of a shout.
As a result, the club will gain a much lower profile, unless he produces a higher level of success. I for one welcome his tenure even though I doubt the combined ability of the Board and him to produce enough of the goods now that O'Neill has frittered so much of the finance away and then in his own inimitable spiteful way ran off to suit his own warped agenda, leaving the club and especially those fans who blindly and foolishly followed him in the shit, with nothing but their hollow pride and obvious failings to dwell on
Does O'Neill care about Villa, does he care about those fans he left suffering the continual humiliation, does he fck, he cares for one thing alone, himself, and that's another bonus of Houllier as manager.

Followed him in the shit, hollow pride and obvious failings, suffering continual humiliation - what the fuck are you on about man?

It's been clear for sometime that you're not playing with a full deck but you've surpassed yourself with that little lot, you crazy mutha.

[hawkeye]

Houlliers no Messiah that's for sure. He's not the man O'Neill is, and as yet has done little to show he's going to be any better in the long run.
However, he's switched on to football, modern day football, has already changed dramatically the football regime at Villa. He's also articulate when interviewed as he doesn't need to be ultra cautious with every word he sprouts.
He's brought in a group of talented and mostly young coaches, full of new ideas, has used more players in the few matches he's had than O'Neill did in a full season, and is gaining the respect if not adulation of fans.
I'm sure those who idolised O'Neill, will expect far more than he can offer with the squad left behind and as views expressed above show, the blindness caused by the O'Neill aura has not worn off for some, poor sods.
Houllier is not the sort of manager to sprout how good he is, he has no ego to build, he doesn't need that sort of weak adulation, or continual justification, he just does it to the best of his ability, without too much of a shout.
As a result, the club will gain a much lower profile, unless he produces a higher level of success. I for one welcome his tenure even though I doubt the combined ability of the Board and him to produce enough of the goods now that O'Neill has frittered so much of the finance away and then in his own inimitable spiteful way ran off to suit his own warped agenda, leaving the club and especially those fans who blindly and foolishly followed him in the shit, with nothing but their hollow pride and obvious failings to dwell on
Does O'Neill care about Villa, does he care about those fans he left suffering the continual humiliation, does he fck, he cares for one thing alone, himself, and that's another bonus of Houllier as manager.

Followed him in the shit, hollow pride and obvious failings, suffering continual humiliation - what the fuck are you on about man?

It's been clear for sometime that you're not playing with a full deck but you've surpassed yourself with that little lot, you crazy mutha.

Chris whilst i am not as extreme in my views as those aired bySFX, would you now agree that MON squandered the opportunity of Randys investment when you look at the squad, its  cost and the wage bill that MON left us with?

[KevinGage]

Regardless, there were too many reports coming from different factions within the game and media for there not to be anything to it. It wasn't just the odd isolated report.

No smoke without fire?
What about smoke machines?
Dry ice.

I didn't hear it. However I don't read the papers.

I think that when it gets to the stage that our own players are discussing it, that staff at opposition clubs are mentioning it during pre season and that supporters with a range of contacts both at the club and in the media have all heard similar there might (just might) be something in it.

There was an interview with Kenny Dalglish a while back too when he made it pretty clear Woy wouldn't have been his choice and that he'd have preferred MON or himself to get the gig. Dalglish still has a lot of clout up there and was by all accounts asked  by the board for his recommendation. They chose not to act on it, such is life.

[KevinGage]

I'm no great fan of the man mac but surely mon couldn't be that vindictive, or could he?

I tend to agree.

I can well believe he wanted the Redscouse job.

I can well believe that he got pissed off in the current job, or at the very least the appeal started to wane.  Maybe it was just a case that in 2006 he thought he could manoeuvre us into the very top set of clubs but by March/ April 2010 realized that because of the change in the game re City and the like this wasn't possible. Maybe he even realized his own shortcomings in that regard and the role he had played in not taking advantage of the window of  opportunity that presented itself in 08/09.

Perhaps, but he was still ambitious enough put himself forward for the Liverpool job where -it could be reasoned- that inheriting a better calibre of player would give him a better chance to enhance his reputation. With one or two adjustments that squad really should be good enough for top 4 and it probably wouldn't need revolution to do it. Just a manager good at raising team morale and getting a side to fight and battle for every point in every game.

I can believe all that. And I can believe not getting the job he wanted probably killed his enthusiasm for football in the short term. I'm sure he felt obligated to continue with us at first. But  having to go back to training in July with a bunch of players he'd done all he could to ostracise, not being able to offload them and the unusual scenario of not having a free hand in the transfer market to bring in exactly who he wanted on stupid wages again did for him in the end. He probably just felt he didn't need it anymore.

But I find it hard to believe that he deliberately waited until our no.1 choice of replacement was in another job before bailing on us. That just sounds too malevolent.

[Dave Clark Five]

But I find it hard to believe that he deliberately waited until our no.1 choice of replacement was in another job before bailing on us. That just sounds too malevolent.

He wasn't known as The Poison Dwarf for nothing.

[Mazrim]

Even by Overall's usual "standard" that last post was the ravings of somebody who is a casual dinner guest of sanity.
He's like the guy in the control tower in Airplane when the plane has landed and everybody has gone home.

[ktvillan]

The early signs are promising from Houllier, players played in correct positions, evidence of rotation, ostracised players given a fresh chance, emphasis on a passing game, Heskey rejuvenated,  training based around both physical fitness and improving technique, ability to make tactical changes and tactical substitutions at different times, the football is better to watch and the players seem happier in general.

But O'Neill's first season looked very promising as well, so early days yet. 

[Mazrim]

Its always nice when new managers address the immediate failings of the team.

When MON took over we addressed the lack of bottle and urgency and now Houllier has taken over we have addressed/are addressing the need for more sophistication, possession and using more of the squad (plus hopefully casting our net further afield in player search and scouting).
We'll see his real philosophy come to fruition next year and when Houllier has a few of his own players in.

But the signs are very promising.

[Mr Diggles]

What I find really promising is that he's taken a relatively short period of time to make an impact. Our passing and possession against Chelsea  demonstrated how far apart in style his reign could be as opposed to MON's out dated brand of up and at 'em. Having said that I always though the footballers at the club were better than the football MON had them playing, and to be released (as they were in our opening match against West Ham) and improved (particularly through their working with  Houllier, McAllister and Cowans) as they have been has been great to see.

I can only think with optimism as to where we'll be this time next season, after Houllier has had a year and 2 transfer windows to bring in specialist players to play the system he wants us to, rather than forcing another manager's buys into his system.

A great appointment, irrespective of the timing and circumstance.

[Concrete John]

Just a snippet that I was told yesterday by a senior club official.

Gerard Houllier has spent more time around Villa Park in the last month than O'Neill did all the time that he was here.

Houllier had also remarked to another mate of mine that he had not realised just how big the club actually was.

It all equates to someone being happy in their job. Let us hope that the long awaited transfer window sees some progress.   

I know this thread has moved on since the original post, but just wanted to comment on this.

I always thought of Houllier as a bit of a miserable bastard when at Liverpool.  Maybe it was the weight of expectation or whatever, but I hardly ever saw him crack a smile and he was usually moaning like hell after matches.

He seems different with us.  It might be a new perspective after his health issues or just enjoying being back in day-to-day management, but he seems a different man to the one who managed the Scousers.  And I like this version more.

[Olneythelonely]

Liverpool turned him down in the summer and everyone in football knows it. He'll have to swallow a lot of pride to take the job now.

I didn't know it and I also don't believe it.

In the know

“If you add that all up, he was acting a bit differently. He wasn’t the Martin O’Neill that we knew, but we still didn’t think he would walk out like that. He was close to going at the end of last season to Liverpool and either it fell through or he sorted out his differences [with the Villa board] so we thought he was going to stay.”

[Concrete John]

Chris whilst i am not as extreme in my views as those aired bySFX, would you now agree that MON squandered the opportunity of Randys investment when you look at the squad, its  cost and the wage bill that MON left us with?

I'm not even going to attempt to decipher the first post, so if you don't mind, and of course not trying to answer for Chris, I'll pick up yours instead?


Quick answer is no.  The investment was large under MON, but it needed to be to get us up to where we are/were from relegation candidates.  And I think a good squad has been left behind, even if there are one or two holes that need filling.

Wages are a different issue, but I would query whther the issue, as far as Randy and the board are concerned, is the total bill or the unused portion?  If Gezza is now utilizing the squad more, which we all wanted, then maybe the issue is removed?

My view is that we don't need to change what MON put in place, just add to it.  That is in terms of the tactics and training, but also the majority of the squad.

[kippaxvilla2]

I think we will all like houllier more and Oneil less as time goes on.

I hope you are right but experience suggests that the knives will be out for him if he doesn't achieve anything next season.

Let's just see what the reaction is if, heaven forbid, there is a bad result on 31st October.

[Simon Ward]

I found the comments about the fitness of the players by Houllier very disconcerting, in that it appears that we are two months into the season and only just up to lasting 90 minutes. What were the previous management team doing and more importantly why did we bother with a conditioning coach? It does perhaps explain our failure to hang on to leads in the past.

[Hookeysmith]

Was enjoying this thread until it turned into another O'Neil one again.

The only thing i will say of MOn is that he will never have the total control he was afforded at Villa by Randy - in fact i see that as randy's only failing in all his time here - it was like he was in awe of MON.

Anyway - Mac and Sid look like the ideal dream team behind GED and the fitness coach is renound for being one of the best in the game - it is already starting to show

I think we have a lot of the right ingredients at the club (Thanks to Mr Shearer for actually stating this on MOTD)  i think a couple of quality players (CF and CM) and we are as good as anyone outside manshitty and Chelski

Would not say that the football so far has been riviting but it certainly is better than the final days of MON

Lets look forward to a bright future - i really fancy a cup this year