Oliver Holt on Sunday Supplement 23/1/2011

[Rip Van We Go Again]

The only way we are going to see an end to this MON love in by the media and pundits alike is if and when he gets the Liverpool job. 

If he's not the roaring success that the same would have us believe then the tide might begin to turn. 

Not a chance, they'd blame the owners.

[TheSandman]

Nope, but then again can you point me in the direction of a managerial walkout that left a club so totally buggered as O'Neill's?

Owen Coyle going to Bolton?

Appointing Brian Laws did for them.

[Chris Smith]

Nope, but then again can you point me in the direction of a managerial walkout that left a club so totally buggered as O'Neill's?

Owen Coyle going to Bolton?

Appointing Brian Laws did for them.

If Coyle hadn't walked out then they wouldn't have had to appoint him.

I think we're all a bit too precious about this. Fans are quick to call for managers to be sacked without any thought for the timing or consequences to them, we even had some loons wanting MON to be given the boot for "only" finishing sixth. I don't think we can then complain if they go on their own terms.

I liked him but he's gone and now I'm only interested in what GH can do.

[Dave Cooper please]

Nope, but then again can you point me in the direction of a managerial walkout that left a club so totally buggered as O'Neill's?

Owen Coyle going to Bolton?

Coyle didn't take his entire coaching staff with him and left with Burnley in a decent position in the league, that they spectacularly cocked up their next managerial appointment wasn't Coyle's fault.
It was a shit thing to do so soon after signing a new contract though, I'll give you that.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Havent bothered reading a single word whats been said on this thread at all.

Just saw the name Oliver Holt. Whatever hes said, its complete and urtter garbage. Cant stand the irritating twat.

[Ger Regan]

I don't even think the other journos are too keen on Holt, a couple of times I've seen them get annoyed by his general aresyness. He'd love it though if he knew we had a thread dedicated to him, better just to ignore the twat.

Have to agree with this. You know, I know, and most sane people know that he talks shite, so why bother taking any notice of him?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I don't even think the other journos are too keen on Holt, a couple of times I've seen them get annoyed by his general aresyness. He'd love it though if he knew we had a thread dedicated to him, better just to ignore the twat.

Have to agree with this. You know, I know, and most sane people know that he talks shite, so why bother taking any notice of him?

He does talk shit, but we're bound to react when he takes the piss out of the club we love.

He also has an eminently kickable face.

[peter w]

Its actually quite sad how ill informed he is.

Except he's not ill-informed. He's spinning for the MON PR machine.

When  MON and Randy first started working together he was eulogising about our bright future and how the good times were going to be coming back to Villa Park. I wonder how he'd judge the MON years now? Would we get the usual pro-MON 'Villa were lucky to have him'? 'they should be so lucky to have finished as high as 6th'? etc etc Since MON left Holt just pours out anti-Lerner bile. His Mirror coloumn was full of the same rubbish. Sod him.

[Concrete John]

Nope, but then again can you point me in the direction of a managerial walkout that left a club so totally buggered as O'Neill's?

Owen Coyle going to Bolton?

Coyle didn't take his entire coaching staff with him and left with Burnley in a decent position in the league, that they spectacularly cocked up their next managerial appointment wasn't Coyle's fault.
It was a shit thing to do so soon after signing a new contract though, I'll give you that.

As we discussed a few pages back, he didn't 'take them with him', they also resigned of their own free will, although I think he would have known that would happen when he walked.

Yet it was Martin's fault that Randy did cock up the apointment, or at least appeared to have done until recently?  So are we saying that mid season Burnley was a more attractive proposition than Villa with 38 games to go?

Sorry - I just don't and never will agree with others view of the timing of it being an excuse for our woeful form this season. 

[pauliewalnuts]

Sorry - I just don't and never will agree with others view of the timing of it being an excuse for our woeful form this season. 

It doesn't fully explain it, but I can't believe anyone thinks it had nothing to do with it.

As for him not taking them with him, they went when he went - the ultimate result was the entire football staff leaving at the same time.

Whether it was out of loyalty to him or because he asked them to, I don't know. I was more concerned about the effect on the club.

[dave.woodhall]

As we discussed a few pages back, he didn't 'take them with him', they also resigned of their own free will, although I think he would have known that would happen when he walked.

And as we agreed, the resignation of an entire football management team en masse, five days before the season started, is unique.

[pauliewalnuts]

Its actually quite sad how ill informed he is.

Except he's not ill-informed. He's spinning for the MON PR machine.

When  MON and Randy first started working together he was eulogising about our bright future and how the good times were going to be coming back to Villa Park. I wonder how he'd judge the MON years now? Would we get the usual pro-MON 'Villa were lucky to have him'? 'they should be so lucky to have finished as high as 6th'? etc etc Since MON left Holt just pours out anti-Lerner bile. His Mirror coloumn was full of the same rubbish. Sod him.

There was, and still is, a feeling in Fleet Street that Martin was much bigger than Villa, and that we were really lucky to have him.

They're in their element now, as he's gone, and our poor form just gives them an excuse to stick the boot in to us. I read somewhere that in his relationships with the press, Martin wasn't bothered about the local press or most of the tabs, he'd just cultivate the best links he could with a small group of mostly broadsheet journalists.

Ultimately, I'll ignore twats like Holt, as I don't watch Sky Sports and I don't read his shit newspaper, but the amount of vitriol poured on the club this week has been beyond belief.

What is clear, though, is that for certain journalists, whatever happens, Martin wins.

We get relegated = "that's what happens when you lose someone like MON"
We stay up = "they'd have been 5th if they'd given MON that money"
We finish mid table = see above
We finish in the European places = "he's done it with MON's team, see, if Lerner had give MON that 24m, he'd probably have won the title for them"
We win the league = "What a shame they had to do it without MON, it would have been so right for a manager of his calibre to win the ultimate prize"

We can't even win when we spend money, with that whole "why didn't he give MON the money" line - none of them seem to have considered the possibility that money was always there, as the club said it was. Probably because that would be an admission that, actually, they were wrong.

I don't care if they're all massive Martin fans, and they've all got the right to write whatever they like, but when I see my club get such a concerted kicking (for having the sheer gall to go and buy a proven top notch goalscorer at a time when we desperately need one, rather than just lying down and letting relegation happen), it pisses me off. It also makes me think that a lot of these writers would really, really like us to go down, if only to give them even more of a reason to polish MON's crown.

Fuck the lot of them.

[ROBBO]

Could have been a power play from O'Neill that went wrong, expecting Randy to cave in.

[Concrete John]

As we discussed a few pages back, he didn't 'take them with him', they also resigned of their own free will, although I think he would have known that would happen when he walked.

And as we agreed, the resignation of an entire football management team en masse, five days before the season started, is unique.

Yet, and this is without doing a full points per game comparison, the results when K-Mac was working without much help were better than they were once Gezza came in with his full staff.

[Mazrim]

As we discussed a few pages back, he didn't 'take them with him', they also resigned of their own free will, although I think he would have known that would happen when he walked.

And as we agreed, the resignation of an entire football management team en masse, five days before the season started, is unique.

MON is like the Pharoahs of old, and Bagpuss.
When he goes, so do all those closest to him.