Message From Houllier

[pmk1981]

Biggest load of pr bollocks I have ever read. He was told to write something...prob by Faulkner due to someone reading these posts Monday night.

What else could he say??  He had to say something along the lines of we must get results. Next game is important blah blah. I have been reading this shit from him after every bad performance and things get worse

Sort it out Frenchman of fuck off and stop ruining this club

go sit on the anfield board if you love Liverpool so much because at the moment as a long time season ticket holder I would rather have Barry fucking fry in charge than you at the moment!!!

[Mazrim]

This was a non-issue with me anyway. He has a storied (sort of) history with Liverpool and it was his first trip back there, so fucking what? What he does at Villa is my only concern. If he keeps going on about Liverpool it will eventually grate but at the moment its a frame of reference, nothing more.

He was never my first choice, proabably not even in my top 10 but I'm going to give him a chance. He hasnt impressed me at all yet. Then again he has had nothing short of horrendous luck with injuries. I mean bordering on bad comedy. He needs the chance to get his own team together and until then I think its too early to call on his tenure. Then again, the danger is Randy blows another fortune backing a manager that isnt going to be here for too long.
I think Houllier teams (as many others) rely on momentum. I want him to have a chance to build some but he's going to need players and that means the new year. Both returning from injury and bought in the window.


Anyway, kudos for this message. I've never heard of such a thing happening before. You can call it a PR stunt if you like but then again some people will never be happy. It shows a board who listen to the concerns of their fans, however trivial, and a manager humble enough to explain himself on the club's website.
There are many managers I can think of who would not do such a thing.

It's a tough time for everybody at Villa at the moment but, if you're going through hell, keep going.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

This was a non-issue with me anyway. He has a storied (sort of) history with Liverpool and it was his first trip back there, so fucking what? What he does at Villa is my only concern. If he keeps going on about Liverpool it will eventually grate but at the moment its a frame of reference, nothing more.

It might have been tolerated Maz, IF he'd have at least acknowledged the travelling support, They deserved a word after travelling up there in Arctic temperatues, instead he acted like a gooey 12 year old schoolgirl in front of the Kop.

That said, a statement has been made so we should move on.

[Gareth]

The not acknowledging the fans was totally wrong and something he has to beware of in the future....as for his words I cant say that has bothered me in the slightest.....what does bother me is what is on the pitch, where has the solid defence gone? why are our full backs suddenly looking to foul wide players in such dangerous areas? why do our wide players get into dangerous areas and see no target time and time again? why do you bring Carew on and stop putting high balls into the box? so on and so on....

[UsualSuspect]

fair play for an apology

BUT

make not to self to treat us like a load of wankers in the first place

[pedro25]

Didn't like the way he called us a mid table team when he arrived, he must have known we were top 6 last 3 yrs, nor did I like what he said about Carew and Ireland in public, whilst both have been poor this season, so has GH, and Carew has contributed far more to the football club over the last few yrs than GH has in his short tenure.

[Mazrim]

This was a non-issue with me anyway. He has a storied (sort of) history with Liverpool and it was his first trip back there, so fucking what? What he does at Villa is my only concern. If he keeps going on about Liverpool it will eventually grate but at the moment its a frame of reference, nothing more.

It might have been tolerated Maz, IF he'd have at least acknowledged the travelling support, They deserved a word after travelling up there in Arctic temperatues, instead he acted like a gooey 12 year old schollgirl in front of the Kop.

That's fair enough.

[richard moore]

Biggest load of pr bollocks I have ever read. He was told to write something...prob by Faulkner due to someone reading these posts Monday night.

What else could he say??  He had to say something along the lines of we must get results. Next game is important blah blah. I have been reading this shit from him after every bad performance and things get worse

Sort it out Frenchman of fuck off and stop ruining this club

go sit on the anfield board if you love Liverpool so much because at the moment as a long time season ticket holder I would rather have Barry fucking fry in charge than you at the moment!!!

I am beholden to a somewhat milder version of this opinion. His apology doesn't cut it for me, he should have had sufficient intelligence in the first place not to do what he did. It's depressing to think he hadn't thought his actions through beforehand given what was likely to be a fairly obvious flashpoint if not handled carefully....

[sfx412]

Biggest load of pr bollocks I have ever read. He was told to write something...prob by Faulkner due to someone reading these posts Monday night.

What else could he say??  He had to say something along the lines of we must get results. Next game is important blah blah. I have been reading this shit from him after every bad performance and things get worse

Sort it out Frenchman of fuck off and stop ruining this club

go sit on the anfield board if you love Liverpool so much because at the moment as a long time season ticket holder I would rather have Barry fucking fry in charge than you at the moment!!!

Hate to say this but I tend to agree.
Its the sort of thing ex players put out when they try to justify moving to another club for more money

[ktvillan]

Reminds me of that line from "The Beach" - "That's why French humour has conquered the world."

It's not so much just the comments, it was GH's whole demeanour around this game - see Brian Green's list.  His focus  seemed to be all about a nostalgia trip for him, hyped up by the media of course, but he didn't have to play along so willingly.  It was as if he was barely aware he was there to manage Aston Villa and try to beat Liverpool, like Villa were some hired escort he'd taken along to an important networking event.   Sure, acknowldege his time at Liverpool, but underline it with "that was the past, I am now boss of Villa and they are my priority".  This is all the more important when your team is playing piss poorly and you are freefalling towards the relegation zone.   If we were flying and in the top 6, this behaviour may have been more forgiveable.  But we aren't. 

Many of his comments have been misjudged and poor PR since his arrival.  A bit of fire and passion from the team will go a lot further to alleviate that than any predictable PR driven explanation.

[paulcomben]

The mainly positive reaction from fans here is intelligent,  But, the fact he has had to write that so soon after arriving and after injuring half the senior players through over-training and after turning a decent team into a bunch of tactically inept clowns bodes ill. Imagine if you had just started a new job and equivalent things were unravelling in front of your customers and your bosses...

[picicata]

What Houllier said and did on Monday, whilst smacking of stupidity, is not the main thing that bothers me. The main thing is the gutless, passionless rubbish that our team have churned out over the last few weeks and the way this seemingly reflects our managers general demeanour.

So enough with the apologies (and that is probably the weakest apology I have seen for some time, obviously given under duress), fire the team up for the derby on Saturday and get us three points.

If Houllier can't manage that he should walk.

[Brend'Watkins]

The mainly positive reaction from fans here is intelligent,  But, the fact he has had to write that so soon after arriving and after injuring half the senior players through over-training and after turning a decent team into a bunch of tactically inept clowns bodes ill. Imagine if you had just started a new job and equivalent things were unravelling in front of your customers and your bosses...

Your probation period card would get a showing i fear.

[Chris Smith]

Step 1: Acknowledge there’s a problem.

Step 2: Fix it.

He's done the right thing by acknowledging it and 3 points on Saturday will go a long way towards fixing it.

[eastie]

I think hes probably been told to make that statement from above , a rap across his knuckles maybe but he should have known better and lets hope we never hear him drone on about liverpool again!

aston villa are a huge club mr houllier - you are very lucky to be their manager so please get on with the job you were appointed to do and most of us im sure will give you our backing