Houllier confirms Ireland wants to leave!

[Greg N'Ash]

well it hardly shows the board in a gleaming light does it? I tend to believe they had a deal with Citeh for Ireland and were dropped in it by MON's resignation. Naive perhaps to trust thier manager but they'll learn

[KevinGage]

The General has said at various stages that the Ireland deal had the approval of MON and was a far way down the road. Whether it could have been pulled with the departure of the manager (personally I think it could) is a moot point. MON was on board with it and it was the wider issue of the wage bill that he ultimately couldn't/wouldn't come to terms with.

It's been said recently that the board haven't communicated their position well enough. Yet when they do, if this doesn't fit in with the conspiracy theories of a certain few it's disregarded anyway.

So you have the General stating the boards take on the situation against MON saying absolutely nothing and a few infatuated MON fans thinking it must be the clubs fcuk up by default - as MON can do no wrong.

I know out of the above which scenario looks the most credible to me but each to his own.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

erm..pelty is slightly well placed with people who would know

And they would never mislead anyone would they?

I like this one. Have you ever considered the consequencies of the board misleading or telling porkies to the fans and being found out?
Four and a half years of positive PR and all credibility out the window in one nano-second.

My understanding is that the General is far too experienced, honourable, not to mention wise, to play such a risky game. It's one thing to question their decisions but quite another to mark them down as idiots and/or liars. By coming on this and other boards, the General knows the rules that go with the territory and the consistency required in all his comments.

[sfx412]

Get him out.
Always knew he was a prick.

I agree, there hasn't been a single piece of good news since he became manager.

 



still got the knives handy I see 

[Bottom Right 89]

Steve Sidwell is shite. But when he's in the team he works his bollocks off.

No he doesn't. He hides.

The man has ankles made from custard. I'd rather play with ten men than have Sidwell on the pitch.

He'd have to be Harry Potter to hide with that hair - I'm with JJ Sidwell always gives maximum effort and I think that is his problem he tries too hard.

In 6 or 7 appearances Ireland has not made a tackle in anger - even the devil incarnate S. Hodge worked up a sweat in a Villa shirt. He is a disgrace to himself and the football club - make him clear the snow at the training ground.

[JJ-AV]

I can't see how people can deny Sidwell gets about the pitch. He covers loads of ground and gets stuck in.

He's just not particularly good.

[TheTimVilla]

From what I gather, the deal was done between AVFC and MCFC *before* MON left - signed and sealed. The delay was caused by issues between City and Ireland... Papers were signed and Aston Villa could not have backed out of the deal had they wanted to do so no matter the circumstances.

If this is the case, the board is blameless. There was a manager to make the footballing decision (signing Ireland for £8m) and a board to make the business decision (selling Ireland). It's just a shame that the manager made such a decision just days or weeks before he resigned.

From what I gather, MON resigned because AVFC and  MCFC had signed  a binding agreement to sell Milner on terms he didn't agree with and that they had made his position untenable by overruling him.

See what I've done there?

Spoken out your arse? Either that or you know more than the rest of us as to why MON left.

I think VD would very much like that to be true.

Every post since the departure of the love of his life would indicate that's how he see's it, and it would exonerate MON.

But wanting it to be true and it actually being true are two different things.

Who knows what is true, its as good as theory as any other but stating it as fact is pretending that you know something that others don't. However, its no more far-fetched than Pelty 's laughable theory that we could not get out of the deal as everything had been signed.

Just a thought but *if* MoN resigned in disgust at AVFC selling Milner, perhaps the Board decided they couldn't go back on the deal as they'd lose out on the money & Ireland from the transfer *and* a manager?

[KevinGage]

As Legion said, he goes missing - even if its only a bit part last 15 minutes from the bench.

Unless you count mistiming the odd tackle as 'getting stuck in.'

In contrast, even in the few run-outs he's had since Sept, there have been a few occasions when Ireland has come on and looked lively. That's the most frustrating thing in all this, we know with Ireland there is a good player in there somewhere.

Sidwell is just an empty shirt, someone to make up the numbers it seems. At times he doesn't even manage that.

[pelty]

erm..pelty is slightly well placed with people who would know

And they would never mislead anyone would they?

Can't say I appreciate you questioning my honesty and integrity. The bottom line is that the Milner episode was a debacle and I am not even sure it would have gone down the way it did had MON not shot off his mouth somewhere around 18 July (people can check that date) and told the press that Milner was agitating to leave. Now, all the MON apologists can spin this as they like; I am a liar, etc. Nevertheless, it would appear that those words put the player into what seemed to him to be an untenable position as regards the club and its fans and he then asked to leave.

[sfx412]

Ireland doesn't want to be at Villa, never wanted to be there and has never made any attempt to change his view.

He's a wate of space and unlike our previous manager who would have fined him and never played him again until his contract is up Houllier fcks him off post haste and rightly so.
Its not only the training regime that is more professional the management of the players has gone the same way.
Now if those Mon lovers could catch up to the real world we might all get on more.

[lovejoy]

Ireland doesn't want to be at Villa, never wanted to be there and has never made any attempt to change his view.

He's a wate of space and unlike our previous manager who would have fined him and never played him again until his contract is up Houllier fcks him off post haste and rightly so.
Its not only the training regime that is more professional the management of the players has gone the same way.
Now if those Mon lovers could catch up to the real world we might all get on more.

If a professional training regime and player management mean we lose to Blues in QF of the cup, are always in the news with players revolting and oscillating between 15th and 17th rather than 6th excuse me but I'd prefer the unprofessional version.

[dicedlam]

erm..pelty is slightly well placed with people who would know

And they would never mislead anyone would they?

I like this one. Have you ever considered the consequencies of the board misleading or telling porkies to the fans and being found out?
Four and a half years of positive PR and all credibility out the window in one nano-second.

I dont believe for one second the board would mislead the fans, but it does show how naive they were when conducting transfers.
Especially when giving S.O.B.M.O.N the freedom of all things Villa.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

erm..pelty is slightly well placed with people who would know

And they would never mislead anyone would they?

I like this one. Have you ever considered the consequencies of the board misleading or telling porkies to the fans and being found out?
Four and a half years of positive PR and all credibility out the window in one nano-second.

I dont believe for one second the board would mislead the fans, but it does show how naive they were when conducting transfers.
Especially when giving S.O.B.M.O.N the freedom of all things Villa.

As I said earlier, I think it's more than fair game to question their decisions but to question their honesty in dealing with the fans is to think them idiots.

[sfx412]

Ireland doesn't want to be at Villa, never wanted to be there and has never made any attempt to change his view.

He's a wate of space and unlike our previous manager who would have fined him and never played him again until his contract is up Houllier fcks him off post haste and rightly so.
Its not only the training regime that is more professional the management of the players has gone the same way.
Now if those Mon lovers could catch up to the real world we might all get on more.

If a professional training regime and player management mean we lose to Blues in QF of the cup, are always in the news with players revolting and oscillating between 15th and 17th rather than 6th excuse me but I'd prefer the unprofessional version.

Like Mon you are thinking only short term, not taking the full facts on board and of yourself I'd guess, as you have ignored the injury list, the disruption caused by Mons manner of exit and the lack of time Houllier has had, to change the squad.

[pelty]

erm..pelty is slightly well placed with people who would know

And they would never mislead anyone would they?

I like this one. Have you ever considered the consequencies of the board misleading or telling porkies to the fans and being found out?
Four and a half years of positive PR and all credibility out the window in one nano-second.

I dont believe for one second the board would mislead the fans, but it does show how naive they were when conducting transfers.
Especially when giving S.O.B.M.O.N the freedom of all things Villa.

I just do not understand this? How are they being "naive" by saying to the manager (whoever that may be), "Go get the players you feel will best take the club to the heights we would like to reach"? I am unsure of what model you would have in mind that would find the board conducting transfer business. At what clubs does this happen with regularity? In all seriousness, is Villa that far out of the mainstream? Sure, there could be a DOF put into place, I guess, who would serve as a go-between of a sort, but I am not sure that this is a better model than the one currently in place. It works rather well in American football, but the ingrained power of the manager found in world football suggests it would not work as well or that it would take a certain type of manager who was willing to follow these ground rules, a type of manager who likely would not inspire the fires of hopes and passions of the fans.

So I ask again, in what way is the board "naive"? How is its manner of conducting business appreciably different than other Premier League clubs?