Has Houllier changed our club for the better?

[ROBBO]

From a purely financial perspective Randy would not give a flying fck about the FA cup. The premiership is all that counts because that's where the money is, any danger of not surviving the drop would have him taking any steps needed to ensure survival. He certainly would not have given the money for Bent to a manager he no longer trusted, i think Houllier is with us for at least three years and will oversee a total overhaul of the football department. Retrospective is a wonderful thing but when MON became Villa manager i like most thought he was perfect for us, in hindsight i think he was caught in a time warp and was a disaster it will take us a while to recover from.

[Eigentor]

taken a team from 6th to 3 points above relegation

We were 8th (and 3 points above relegation) when GH arrived.

But we've finished 6th for the past 3 seasons so its fair to assume we are a "6th" team.

Except that we in the past 3 season invested significantly in players and had continuity (same manager, same coaches) whereas we, this season, had no investment except Ireland (that practically equals no investment), sold Milner and a summer of upheaval.

Just because something happens three times in a row doesn't make it a law.

[lovejoy]

Not a rule but perhaps a benchmark.

[villa `cross the mersey]

This time last year we had been to a final and were progessing well in another competition whilst maintaining a good position in the League.
Now we have lost to Small Heath in a cup tie, surrendered our interest in another cup whilst scraping around just above the dead wood.
Some fecking progress that  !!

Oh apparantly we now play more attractive football... thats all that matters then.

[olaftab]

He inherited a top 6 team less one player. He's been backed with a lot of money in his one transfer window. We're out of both cups and 2 points off relegation with 9 games to go, am I missing something here? He's been a pretty much unmitigated disaster. The comment about him being sure we would win things was a couple of days before he jacked in the FA cup. I don't believe any of this "vision for the future" bollocks. As I recall a Champions League place was always the target when Gregory was boss. Well I couldn't see it happening then and I can't see it happening now.

Agree completely.

Agree entirely

Agree enormously.

[Sexual Ealing]

So the gist of the article is that a nice man treated James Nursey to nice food and nice drink and he's all of a sudden saying nice things about him?

It started before that with Nursey, it has been very noticeable.

Someone needs to get Oliver Holt up Broad Street and spike his WKD.

From what I understand Nursey had a really low opinion of a former member of staff.

Spill the beans then!

[davevillan]

How many times has he been able to play what would be considered his 1st team since he has been here??
We wont go down..End of!!! Reason, we score goals. The 3 who go down will be those who struggle to score.
If we were playing poor and not creating, id be worried, but that is not the case. If we play like we did against Blackburn in our remaining games, we will be top 10.
If people want to judge him purely on results and league position then fine, thats there opinion, and one i cant agree with.
Look at his dealings in January, that shows the type of player we are targetting, and im sure more of the same will follow in the summer.
He has been unlucky with the amount of injuries he has had to contend with, but on the plus side, the younger players who had to step up, will be better for it longterm.
Going on about 3 top 6 finishes under mon is fine, but does anyone think longterm he would have taken us further?
I would argue that with the amount of money he had to spend, top 6 was the minimum requirement, and apart from last season, we didnt have a cup run in the previous 3 seasons! With better signings, better management could we not have made top 4.
I for one look forward to a good end to the season, an exciting summer window, and another top 6 challenge next season.

[hawkeye]

there is some confusion regarding the state we were left in by MON and the performance of GH.
There is no way despite the situation he inherited that we should be in such a precarious position. He has displayed on numerous occaisions a total disregard for our club and its supporters. Despite some of the good things we have seen in terms of a more progressive approach to the game, he has failed to get results, he has failed to unify the squad and he has failed to gain the trust of a large proportion of the supporter base. He has failed.

[godzvilla]

One thing I will say, is the club have quite clearly given James Nursey some kind of super VIP level shmoozing of late, because in the last month or so, he has gone from being worse than Oliver Holt in terms of clapping his hands with glee when he gets stuck in, to loving everything about the club.

A damascene conversion, if ever there was one.

Oliver Holt wrote a similar article in last Mondays Times , explaining  in more complimentary terms his understanding of  Houlier,s recent tactics and the reasons behind them .............Godzvilla!

[BannedUserIAT]

He's certainly a manager that polarises opinion....even on an individual basis: I can't quite decide whether he's a PR disaster that, come match day, doesn't have a clue or if he's working his arse off to rebuild the old and broken remains of Chez Mon into something modern and majestic.

I suspect it's a little from column A and a little from column B. He'll be happy to do nothing other than stay in the premiership this season and focus on new training methods, new tactics, new players...a whole new ethos. All of which is fantastic except I'm sure he wasn't expecting this team to be brushing so closely against the bosom of relegation.

For me, it'll be either the most disasterous appointment in modern times or something we'll look back on in a few years and realise that he has built an absolutely brilliant new foundation that will stand the club (and any new manager that takes over) in good stead for many a year.

Flip a coin.

[LeeB]

We may have finished 6th last year, but does anyone seriously think this squad would have achieved it again? With the rumoured aquisitions of Keane and McGeady?

I don't, and I don't think the prick in charge did, so he sat on his hands all summer and fucked off when it was too late.

[davevillan]

We may have finished 6th last year, but does anyone seriously think this squad would have achieved it again? With the rumoured aquisitions of Keane and McGeady?

I don't, and I don't think the prick in charge did, so he sat on his hands all summer and fucked off when it was too late.

With the investment at city and spurs making top 4, the best we could have hoped for would have been 6th...However had he got those 2 in, we wouldnt have got Bent, and with mcgeady, where would that have left Albrighton.
Imo this season is short term pain for long term gain. How its panned out, with all the injuries we had, we would have struggled under mon this season anyway.

[WikiVilla]

Assuming we scrape by and stay up, I would still wager, ST sales, commercial sales etc will be well down (circa 15%) if GH stays.

RL / PF will need to factor that into any decision making process

[Chris Smith]

We may have finished 6th last year, but does anyone seriously think this squad would have achieved it again? With the rumoured aquisitions of Keane and McGeady?

I don't, and I don't think the prick in charge did, so he sat on his hands all summer and fucked off when it was too late.

We'd done it three times in a row so it's possible but the club refusing to spend any money until players were sold would have made it difficult whoever was in charge.

It does make me laugh how tabloid rumours are held up as fact on here.

[Concrete John]

I'm pretty sure the summer we bought Harewood, Knight and NRC nobody thought we'd finish 6th, but we did.  We wouldn't have had Bent?  Fair enough, but we would have had Gabby playing up top and not of the wing, with keane behind him giving us something a little different, plus Ash on the wing where he's best.  It's easy to say what we would/wouldn't have done, but MON's track record would suggest if we didn;t we'd have been pretty close!!

As for Houllier, I'm on record as saying I'm not a fan thus far, but next season is the time to judge when all the excuses (MON's team, injuries, no pre-season, needs time to change things) no longer hold water.  In many respects I like what's he's doing:-
1.  Transfer dealings
2.  Blooding the excellent kids
3.  Improved style of play

But to me all those things are only geared towards one sole purpose - to win football matches.  And in that he's failed miserably.  So next season I don't want to hear the ifs and the buts and be told how training is now much more professional.  I want to see Aston Villa win more football matches!!